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Sarah Palin
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Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin

Governor Sarah Palin
11th Governor of Alaska
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 4, 2006
Lieutenant Sean Parnell
Preceded by Frank Murkowski
Born February 11 1964 ( 1964-02-11) (age 44)
Sandpoint, Idaho
Political party Republican
Spouse Todd Palin
Residence Wasilla, Alaska
Alma mater University of Idaho
Profession Journalist
Religion Christian: Assemblies of God

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (IPA: /peɪlɪn/) (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and the presumptive 2008 Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States.[1] She will be the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing the Republican Party and the second female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major political party. She will be the first politician from Alaska to be nominated for Vice President.

Palin was born in Idaho and raised in Alaska. In 1984, she was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, receiving a scholarship that allowed her to attend the University of Idaho, where she received a degree in journalism. After working as a sports reporter at an Anchorage television station, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla (population 5,470 in 2000) in 1996, and ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 2002. She was elected Governor of Alaska in 2006 by first defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, then former Democratic Alaskan governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She gained attention for publicizing ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders.[2]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Early life
* 2 Pre-gubernatorial political experience
* 3 Governorship
o 3.1 Energy policies
o 3.2 Social issues
o 3.3 Matanuska Maid Dairy closure
o 3.4 Budget
o 3.5 Commissioner dismissal
* 4 2008 Vice-presidential candidacy
* 5 Personal life
* 6 Electoral history
o 6.1 Election results
* 7 References
* 8 External links

[edit] Early life

Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.[3] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[4] Charles Heath was a science teacher and track coach.[4] The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family regularly ran 5k and 10k races.[4]

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.[4] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[4] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[4]

In 1984, after winning the Miss Wasilla contest][5] earlier that year, Palin finished second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant which won her a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[4] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics.

She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[4] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[4]

[edit] Pre-gubernatorial political experience

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged and defeated the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[4] The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed.[4] Palin kept her campaign promises by reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes by 60%.[4] She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[4][6] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[7]

In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term to become governor, Palin interviewed to be his possible successor. Instead, Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.[4]

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,[8] where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.[4] After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.[9] Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.[4]

[edit] Governorship
Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in Landstuhl, Germany, July 2007
Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in Landstuhl, Germany, July 2007

In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[4] Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles.[4] Palin said in 2006 that education, public safety, and transportation would be three cornerstones of her administration.[10]

When elected, Palin became the first woman to be Alaska's governor, and the youngest governor in Alaskan history at 42 years of age upon taking office. Palin was also the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood. She was also the first Alaskan governor not to be inaugurated in Juneau, instead choosing to hold her inauguration ceremony in Fairbanks. She took office on December 4, 2006.

Highlights of Governor Palin's tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.[11][12] "Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on 'federal dollars,' as the state does today."[13]

She has challenged the state's Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young[14] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.[11]

In 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.[13] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%.[15]

[edit] Energy policies

Palin's tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.[13][11] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[16]

Shortly after taking office, Palin rescinded thirty-five appointments made by Murkowski in the last hour of his administration, including the appointment by Murkowski of his former chief of staff Jim Clark to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority.[17][18] Clark later pled guilty to conspiring with a defunct oil-field-services company to channel money into Frank Murkowski's re-election campaign.[19]

In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope.[20] Only one legislator, Representative Ralph Samuels, voted against the measure,[21] and in June Palin signed it into law.[22][23] On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant.[24][25]

In response to high oil and gas prices, and in response to the resulting state government budget surplus, Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers' rates.[26] She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly and eliminate the gas tax.[27][28]

[edit] Social issues

Palin is strongly pro-life, a supporter of capital punishment,[29] and belongs to Feminists for Life.[10]

She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[10] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with an Alaskan state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.[30] She disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling[31] and supported a democratic advisory vote from the public on whether there should be a constitutional amendment on the matter.[32] Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998, along with Hawaii.[33] Palin has stated that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment.[10]

Palin's first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska's attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[31]

[edit] Matanuska Maid Dairy closure

When the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business, Palin objected, citing concern for the impact on dairy farmers and the fact that the dairy had just received $600,000 in state money. When Palin learned that only the Board of Agriculture and Conservation could appoint Creamery Board members, she simply replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation.[13][34] The new board, led by businesswoman Kristan Cole, reversed the decision to close the dairy.[34] The new board approved milk price increases offered by the dairy in an attempt to control fiscal losses, even though milk from Washington was already offered in Alaskan stores at lower prices.[35] In the end, the dairy was forced to close, and the state tried to sell the assets to pay off its debts but received no bids.[36][37]

[edit] Budget

In the first days of her administration, Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased (on a state government credit account) by the Murkowski administration. The state placed the jet for sale on eBay three times. In August 2007, the jet was sold for $2.1 million.[38]

Shortly after becoming governor, Palin canceled a contract for the construction on an 11-mile (18-kilometer) gravel road outside of Juneau to a mine. This reversed a decision made in the closing days or hours of the Murkowski Administration.[39]

In June 2007, Palin signed into law a $6.6 billion operating budget—the largest in Alaska's history.[40] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to nearly $1.6 billion.[41]

[edit] Commissioner dismissal

On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down.[42][43] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.[44] In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request), and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[45]

Governor Palin asserts that her dismissal of Monegan was unrelated to the fact that he had not fired Wooten, and asserts that Monegan was instead dismissed for not adequately filling state trooper vacancies, and because he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues."[46] Palin acknowledges that a member of her administration, Frank Bailey, did contact the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, but both Palin and Bailey say that happened without her knowledge and was unrelated to her dismissal of Monegan.[46] Bailey was put on leave for two months for acting outside the scope of his authority as the Director of Boards and Commissions.

In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time."[47] The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and thus subpoenas are unnecessary.[48] The Palin administration itself was the first to release an audiotape of Bailey making inquiries about the status of the Wooten investigation.[46][49]

Wooten and the police union alleged that the governor had improperly released his employment files in his divorce case. However, McCann's attorney released a signed waiver from Wooten demonstrating that Wooten had authorized the release of his files through normal discovery procedures.[50][51]

[edit] 2008 Vice-presidential candidacy

Main article: John McCain presidential campaign, 2008
See also: Republican Party (United States) vice presidential candidates, 2008

On August 29, 2008, Palin was announced as John McCain's running mate.[1] Palin's selection surprised many Republican officials who had speculated about other candidates, such as Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, United States Senator Joseph Lieberman, and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.[52]

[edit] Personal life

Palin's husband, Todd, is a Yup'ik Alaskan native.[4] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP energy corporation at an oil field on Alaska's North Slope[53] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.[4] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated from college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[4] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[54]

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' eighteen-year-old son Track, eldest of five, joined the Army.[54] He now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September 2008. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17; Willow, 13; and Piper, 7.[7]

On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[55] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[11] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[11]

Details of Palin's personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[13][56] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[10]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] Election results
2006 Gubernatorial Election, Alaska
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Sarah Palin 114,697 48.33 -7.6
Democratic Tony Knowles 97,238 40.97 +0.3
Independent Andrew Halcro 22,443 9.46 n/a
Alaskan Independence Don Wright 1,285 0.54 -0.4
Libertarian Billy Toien 682 0.29 -0.2
Green David Massie 593 0.25 -1.0
Write-ins 384 0.16 +0.1
Majority 17,459 7.36
Turnout 238,307 51.1
Republican hold Swing 4.0
Alaska Republican Gubernatorial Primary Election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Sarah Palin 51,443 50.59 n/a
Republican John Binkley 30,349 29.84 n/a
Republican Frank Murkowski, Incumbent 19,412 19.09 n/a
Republican Merica Hlatcu 211 0.21 n/a
Republican Gerald Heikes 280 0.28 n/a
Majority 21,094 20.75 n/a
Turnout 101,695 n/a n/a
2002 race for Lieutenant Governor (primary)[57]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Loren Leman 21,076 29% n/a
Republican Sarah Palin 19,114 27% n/a
Republican Robin Taylor 16,053 22% n/a
Republican Gail Phillips 13,804 19% n/a
Republican Paul Wieler 1,777 2% n/a

[edit] References

1. ^ a b "McCain picks Alaska governor as running mate" (2008-08-29). Retrieved on 2008-08-29.
2. ^ Kizzia, Tom (October 24, 2006). "Part 2: Rebel status has fueled front-runner's success". Anchorage Daily News.
3. ^ Ancestry of Sarah Palin by Robert Battle. Accessed 2008-08-26.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Johnson, Kaylene (2008). "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down". Epicenter Press.
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ 2006 Campaign Tip Sheets: Alaska Governor
7. ^ a b ""About the Governor"". Biography. State of Alaska. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
8. ^ Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission - Homepage (Redirect)
9. ^ adn.com | front : Palin explains her actions in Ruedrich case
10. ^ a b c d e Hopkins, Kyle (August 6, 2006). "Same-sex unions, drugs get little play", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
11. ^ a b c d e Quinn, Steve (2007-05-10). "Alaska governor balances newborn's needs, official duties". Associated Press.
12. ^ "'Bridge to nowhere' abandoned", Associated Press via CNN 2007-09-22.
13. ^ a b c d e Barnes, Fred (July 16, 2007). "The Most Popular Governor", The Weekly Standard. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
14. ^ Carlton, Jim. "Alaska's Palin Faces Probe" (2008-07-31).
15. ^ Alaska Statewide 'Opinion Counts' Survey Results, www.haysresearch.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-29
16. ^ Kizzia, Tom (April 12, 2007). "State aims to reduce emissions", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
17. ^ "Palin Sacks Murkowski Crony Clark", Alaska Report (December 7, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
18. ^ Sutton, Anne (2006-12-06). "Palin to examine last-hour job blitz", Associated Press.
19. ^ Richard, Mauer; Sean Cockerham (2008-03-05). "Murkowski staff chief pleads guilty", Anchorage Daily News, The McClatchy Company. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
20. ^ ""Governor Palin Unveils the AGIA"". News & Announcements. State of Alaska (March 2, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
21. ^ ""Palin to sign gas pipeline plan today"". News & Announcements. Alaska Legislature (June 6, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
22. ^ ""Gov. Performs Ceremonial Signing of AGIA"". News & Announcements. State of Alaska (June 7, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
23. ^ ""Bill History/Action for 25th Legislature: HB 177"". BASIS. Alaska State Legislature (June 7, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
24. ^ Palin picks Canadian company for gas line: Gas Pipeline | adn.com
25. ^ KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Canadian company meets AGIA requirements
26. ^ Cockerham, Sean. “Palin wants to give Alaskans $100 a month to use on energy”, Anchorage Daily News (2008-05-16).
27. ^ Cockerham, Sean.“Palin expected to drop energy debit card plan”, Anchorage Daily News (2008-06-18).
28. ^ http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=300668510518137
29. ^ "PUBLIC SAFETY", Sarah on Issues, Palinforgovernor.com (November 7, 2006).
30. ^ McAllister, Bill (December 20, 2006). "Gay partners of state employees win benefits", KTUU News, KTUU-TV. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
31. ^ a b "Alaska governor won't block partner benefits", Gay.com (December 29, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-07-31.
32. ^ Demer, Lisa (December 21, 2006). "Palin to comply on same-sex ruling", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
33. ^ Vestal, Christine (March 1, 2007 (updateSeptember d 20, 2007)). "Gay marriage decisions ripe in 2 courts", Stateline.org. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
34. ^ a b Komarnitsky, S. J. (July 4, 2007). "State board votes to replace Mat Maid CEO", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
35. ^ Komarnitsky, S. J. (July 10, 2007). "Creamery Board approves milk price increase for dairy farmers", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
36. ^ Komarnitsky, S. J. (August 30, 2007). "State to put Mat Maid dairy up for sale", Anchorage Daily News.
37. ^ "State gets no bids for Matanuska Maid", Anchorage Daily News (December 8, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
38. ^ ""Jet That Helped Defeat an Alaska Governor Is Sold"". The New York Times (August 25, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-08-06.
39. ^ KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Palin cancels contracts for pioneer road to Juneau
40. ^ Shinohara, Rosemary (July 16, 2007). "No vetoes here", Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
41. ^ http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/070807/hom_20070708005.shtml
42. ^ Resources from Anchorage Daily News regarding the Monegan affair.
43. ^ Hopkins, Kyle (2008-07-12). "Governor offered Monegan a different job", Anchorage Daily News, The McClatchy Company. Retrieved on 2008-08-21.
44. ^ Hollan, Megan (2008-07-19). "Monegan says he was pressured to fire cop", Anchorage Daily News, The McClatchy Company. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. : "Monegan said he still isn't sure why he was fired but thought that Wooten could be part of it."
45. ^ Demer, Lisa. Is Wooten a good trooper?, Anchorage Daily News (2008-07-27).
46. ^ a b c Cockerham, Sean. “Palin staff pushed to have trooper fired”, Anchorage Daily News (2008-08-14). Retrieved 2008-08-24.
47. ^ Quinn, Steve. "Lawmakers formally call for investigation into Palin's Public Safety firing", Associated Press via Daily News-Miner (2008-07-28). Retrieved 2008-08-24.
48. ^ “Subpoenas uncalled for in Wooten matter”, Anchorage Daily News (2008-08-16). Retrieved 2008-08-24.
49. ^ Palin press release with audio of Bailey call
50. ^ http://gov.state.ak.us/pdf/pr_08122_doc1.pdf
51. ^ http://gov.state.ak.us/pdf/pr_08122_doc_2.pdf
52. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/29palin.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
53. ^ Ross, Mike (August 21, 2007). "Mr. Palin goes back to Prudhoe", KTUU-TV. Retrieved on 2008-07-19.
54. ^ a b Associated Press (September 13, 2007). "Alaska Gov.'s Son Enlists in Army", WTOPNews.com, WTOP-FM. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
55. ^ Alaska Superstation
56. ^ Arnold, Elizabeth. "Alaska's Governor Is Tough, Young — and a Woman", NPR.org, National Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
57. ^ ""State of Alaska Primary Election - August 27, 2002: Official Results"". Division of Elections. The Office of Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell (September 18, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.

[edit] External links
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* Alaska Office of Governor Sarah Palin
* VPILF: Sarah Palin for Vice President website

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Persondata
NAME Palin, Sarah Heath
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heath, Sarah Louise; Palin, Sarah Louise
SHORT DESCRIPTION Governor of Alaska
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandpoint, Idaho
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin"
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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tropical Storm Gustav nears hurricane strength Meanwhile, Hanna becomes the eighth named storm of the season

By MarketWatch
Last update: 5:09 p.m. EDT Aug. 28, 2008Comments: 49SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tropical Storm Gustav neared hurricane strength early Thursday evening as it moved across Jamaica, and Tropical Storm Hanna became the eighth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Energy traders are keeping a watchful eye on Gustav's projected path, as the Gulf of Mexico is home to about a quarter of U.S. oil production, according to Reuters.
October crude fell $2.56 to close at $115.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, retreating from a high of $119.30 after climbing 3% during a three-session winning streak. See Futures Movers.
In an advisory posted at 5 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center reported that Gustav's center was about 15 miles east-northeast of Kingston, Jamaica.
The NHC expected Gustav to strengthen on Friday and Saturday and said it may become a hurricane again by Friday.
Gustav's maximum sustained winds remained near 70 miles an hour, compared with the 45 mph winds reported Wednesday night. A Category 1 hurricane has wind speeds of 74 to 95 mph.
Forecasters warned of potential flash floods and mudslides with Gustav expected to produce 6 to 12 inches of rain across Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
A hurricane warning remains in effect for Jamaica, while a hurricane watch was in effect for the Cayman Islands and parts of Cuba.
Tropical Storm Hanna, with winds near 40 mph, was officially named Thursday morning and will likely see little change in strength over the next 24 hours, according to the hurricane center. It's currently about 260 miles northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands.
Hanna is expected to turn toward the northwest later Thursday or Friday and to be centered well to the northeast of the Bahamas during the next couple of days, the NHC said.
Flooding caused by Gustav killed 14 people on Haiti's southern peninsula and triggered landslides in the Dominican Republic that buried eight people, the Associated Press reported.
Gustav could become the first major hurricane in the Gulf since Wilma during the historic 2005 hurricane season, according to AccuWeather.com.
"There is nothing in Gustav's path that will hinder development," said John Kocet, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. "There is a strong probability that it will be a Category 3 storm by the time it enters the Gulf, and it has the potential to strengthen into a Category 4 or 5 storm over the Gulf."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency on Wednesday ahead of the storm and urged residents to prepare for the worst.
"We are continuing to monitor this storm as state government agencies, including the State Police and the Louisiana National Guard, have been put on standby so we are ready to quickly respond if the storm heads our direction," he said.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party may hold off on its national convention next week if Tropical Storm Gustav turns into a hurricane and strikes the Gulf Coast, a spokesman for presumptive presidential nominee John McCain said Thursday. See full story.
Friday marks the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall along the Gulf Coast.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Glow-in-the-Dark Cats Could Make For a Unique Home Lighting Solution


screwing with nature, cat, glow in the dark, light
Glow-in-the-Dark Cats Could Make For a Unique Home Lighting Solution

Scientists at the Gyeongsang National University in South Korea have cloned cats that have the ability to glow-in-the dark when exposed to ultraviolet light. By inserting a virus into the skin cells of a mother cat and placing those contaminated cells into the womb, scientists were able to prove that it was possible to clone an animal with a manipulated gene. Apparently, this development could allow for a better understanding of human genetic diseases in the future. But what about the benefits of glowing cats?

If you ask me, cats that could truly glow-in-the-dark would make for an unique and styilsh night-light. And, much like the new Litrospheres, they last for about 12 years. The only downside is that the latter requires no power source while cats require a steady diet. Still, the crazy cat lady down the street could have the most power efficient house in town. [InventorSpot]

8:00 PM on Wed Dec 12 2007
By Sean Fallon

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Updated: Mysterious Crash Near Needles, California

“When it came down, that’s how I saw the shape of it –
by the turquoise-blue fire that was in front of it
that showed the oval shape.” - R. B.

KTOX 1340 AM Radio, Needles, California.
Owner and General Manager is David Hayes. Frank Costigan,
who is retired from airport police and operations management, does special
news reports for KTOX. David Hayes has known “R. B.,” the Colorado River
houseboat residence, for some time. Image courtesy KTOX Radio.




Needles, California, is the larger red circle;
Topock, Arizona, is the smaller red circle.

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 by Linda Moulton Howe.
All Rights Reserved.
www.earthfiles.com
earthfiles@earthfiles.com

Republication and redissemination of the contents of this screen or any part of this website are expressly prohibited without prior Earthfiles.com written consent.




Updated: Mysterious Crash Near Needles, California

© 2008 by Linda Moulton Howe

“When it came down, that’s how I saw the shape of it –
by the turquoise-blue fire that was in front of it
that showed the oval shape.” - R. B.

Needles, California, is the larger red circle;
Topock, Arizona, is the smaller red circle.

KTOX 1340 AM Radio, Needles, California.
Owner and General Manager is David Hayes. Frank Costigan,
who is retired from airport police and operations management, does special
news reports for KTOX. David Hayes has known “R. B.,” the Colorado River
houseboat residence, for some time. Image courtesy KTOX Radio.

Updates June 8, 2008:

National UFO Reporting Center Sighting Report
Occurred : 4/17/2002 03:30 (Entered as : 04/17/02 03:30)
Reported: 4/28/2002 6:29:44 PM
Posted: 3/11/2003
Location: Needles, CA
Shape: Circle
Duration: 10 seconds

“I was driving west on -I40, west of Needles, CA. about 3:30 am. There were many semi- trucks on the road who probably saw this, too. It is a very desolate desert area.

“Suddenly a bright blue light illuminated my whole car from above. Even though I was alone, I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ and had to lean forward to look up through my windshield. I saw a huge blue light streak from above my car off to the right side of the road. It stopped in mid air and appeared to be a extremely bright, icy blue colored ball. It then flashed even brighter and vanished. It did not hit the ground as say a meteor might. The only visible color was blue. I had no way to determine the real size or distance from me. A grapefruit held at arm's length was about the size of the ball as I could see it from my car. I am a professional artist and have never seen a UFO or anything like this before.”


Subject: Turquoise colored object I photographed
Date: June 6, 2008
To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com

“Hi Linda,
Your posting June 6, 2008 - Mysterious Crash Near Needles, California - immediately brought to my mind a series of pictures I had taken from the roof of my studio in Ohio when gathering cloud pictures for a project. The turquoise color mentioned in your report seems to fit the color in my photos. Feel free to ask Frank Costigan if this is what it looked like?

Notes about the 1997 photos:

1) The lens I used in the pictures was a Nikkor 28 mm 1:2.8.

2) The complex with a tall smoke stack that I was photographing is part of Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle is an international science and technology enterprise). I find the close proximity to Battelle worthy of note.”

Early November 1997, Ohio: turquoise blue object caught while artist photographed clouds. Photographer: “(Turquoise object) moved up through 4 or 5 frames as I was doing a vertical panorama of the sky. There were several frames before the sequence without the turquoise object and after as well. I did not see it with my eyes through the view finder. It may have been there at the time. The size was pretty small so I could have missed it or it was not visible to the human eye. I only saw the object upon looking at the processed pictures. The image is in the negatives and not a blemish or scratch. It appears in different parts of each frame.”

June 6, 2008 Needles, California - On Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at 3 AM Pacific south of Needles, California, on the Colorado River near Topock, Arizona, a long-time houseboat resident was stunned to see a large, bright “fiery object” hurtling from the sky toward him. From the upper deck on his houseboat, “R. B.” was puzzled by the vivid turquoise-blue with touches of green he was seeing instead of reds, yellows and oranges in more normal fire. Despite the strange blue-green color, Ted thought perhaps he was watching a plane about to crash.

Ted did not know there was another eyewitness - Frank Costigan, retired former Superintendent of Operations and Police Chief at Los Angeles International Airport from 1978 to 1985 and Superintendent of Operations at Ontario International Airport in California from 1985 to 1986. Recently Frank Costigan has been doing special news investigations and reports for KTOX AM 1340 Radio in Needles, California.

At 3 AM on May 14, 2008, Frank had gotten up to let his Siamese cat out and went outside to look at the clear night sky. His home is about three miles east of the Colorado River. To his surprise, a large, bright object of many colors dominated by turquoise blue with some green was streaking through the sky toward the Colorado River area. Frank could also see some red and yellow colors like flames and expected to hear the huge boom of a crash impact.

“I thought I might hear something when it hit the ground because if it was as close as I thought it was and as big as it was, I thought I would hear something. But I did not hear anything. And it went out of my view before it hit the ground.”

But over on the Colorado River, R. B. was only about 400 yards from where the fiery turquoise-blue object hit the ground on the west side of the river. R. B. has requested anonymity because he’s afraid the U. S. government hurts people who report UFOs. He did not even want his voice recorded. R. B. has lived in a houseboat on the Colorado River for thirty some years. He was outside at 3 AM fishing when he saw the brilliant, turquoise-blue flaming object. When it hit the ground about 100 yards west of the river, he saw the whole thing bounce back up in the air with even more glowing red-yellow pieces around the big center object. And yet, he did not hear the crash sound he expected. “There was only a thump sound,” he told me.

But he was afraid that some kind of plane had crashed and urgently went down to the lower deck of his houseboat to get his cell phone and climbed back up to the top deck to get a satellite signal for his phone. When he had a signal, he kept dialing 911, but only got a busy signal. All of this took about seven minutes after the crash. Then to his complete amazement, John Smith heard the loud sound of a sky-hook, or skycrane, helicopter coming fast in the night sky. The next thing he knew, the still-glowing object was hooked underneath the skycrane and carried away rapidly.

I asked R. B. how big he thought the glowing object was? He said it was about the size of a 10,000-gallon tank truck – big and oval-shaped.

After the sun came up, David Hayes, the Owner and General Manager of KTOX AM 1340, was driving to work along I-40 in Needles, when he saw very unusual vehicles traveling together with black and white U. S. government license plates.

Interviews:

David Hayes, Owner and General Manager, KTOX AM 1340, Needles, California: “That same morning (May 14, 2008), when I drove to the KTOX station which is right along I-40 in Needles, I noticed strange vehicles coming off the freeway going west into Needles. The first one was a very strange, black vehicle that was 4-wheel drive, definitely looked like it had a very beefed up suspension. It had a grill on the front of it and a utility bed in the back that had some strange bumps and almost looked like a radar dome-shaped type thing on top of it. It was black and had a triangular bed on the back. It kind of looked stealthy.

Right behind it was a green van. Both had U. S. government license plates, the white with black letters. Behind those two, was a very long brand new stretch van also beefed up with government plates and a very serious man who I looked at and made eye contact with and he just stared me down. I was parallel with him on a frontage road as he was coming off the freeway and he slowed down to my speed. I was on a dirt road and going only 10 to 15 mph, when he could have been doing 40 mph over that bridge. He just got real slow and stared me down. I thought, ‘If you’re going to drive a Star Wars vehicle with U. S. government plates and not think people are not going to stare at you!?’ I just wondered why he was staring at me so intently. After that, Frank told me what he had seen falling in the sky from his place around 3 AM.

Then another friend of ours in the Laughlin, Nevada, airport area said that flights from McCarran Airport to Area 51 were coming in and landing throughout that day (May 14, 2008).

So, it was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty strange!’

One thing I’ll say about the government vehicles and the people in them is that they were very, very serious. In fact, it was suspiciously serious. That’s what got my ears perked up and when you put it all together.”



R. B.'s Experience in Colorado River Houseboat

R. B. has requested anonymity as one of many people who live in houseboats on the Colorado River and happened to be out fishing at 3 AM on Wednesday, May 14, 2008.

R. B.: “Never seen anything this dramatic come out of sky before. Have seen green-blue meteors, but this thing was bright, turquoise blue, almost like a lighter sky blue!

Arizona turquoise gemstone.
Source: Indianvillage.com.


© 2008 by Linda Moulton Howe


Whatever crashed, I thought at the time it was a plane crashing.

BECAUSE IT HAD WINGS AND A TAIL?

No, because it was flaming.

ACTUAL FIRE?

Oh, yes, but a turquoise-blue fire with some green in it. And it hit the ground and bounced. But there were many other pieces – there were at least nine other pieces that bounced up in a circle around the turquoise blue-green object.

ALL BOUNCING UP IN THE AIR AT THE SAME TIME?

No, the main unit that looked like the size of a tanker truck hit. I was sitting on top of my boat fishing and listening to the radio like I do living out here on the Colorado River, but I saw it hit and thought, ‘My God, it has to be a plane that hit and bounced!’ Not like a ball, but it hit and came back up and went back down again. But there were other pieces that were coming with it. When it settled down, I couldn’t see it because of bushes between me on the river and where it came down.

WHEN IT BOUNCED GLOWING, WHAT WAS THE SHAPE?

More oval shaped. When it came down, that’s how I saw the shape of it – by the turquoise-blue fire that was in front of it that showed the oval shape.

THE BIG PIECE WAS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SEMI-TRAILER TRUCK?

Yes, about the size of a maybe a 10,000-gallon tank truck.

HOW DID YOU JUDGE THE SIZE OF THE CRASHED OBJECT AS BEING LIKE A 10,000-GALLON TANK TRUCK?

Because there was a huge fire in front of it as it was coming down.

DID THE OTHER SMALLER PIECES GLOW THE SAME BLUE-GREEN?

No, they were more of a reddish color. But those smaller, glowing pieces did not appear until after the impact. It was like they broke off. The big object hit the ground at a tremendous speed.

DID IT MAKE A BIG BOOMING SOUND WHEN IT HIT?

No, actually, there was just a thump. It hit hard, but there was no crash sound. That’s when I saw the other pieces that flew off. I can’t believe I’m seeing this, and I had to go off the weather deck down to the main deck to get my phone because I thought a plane has crashed. There was no signal for my phone. Where I stay on the river, it’s hard to get a signal. So, I had to wait for a phone signal for maybe seven or eight minutes because a satellite was not there. Finally, I got a signal indication and I called 911, but there was no answer! My call would not go through. I kept getting a busy signal.

Skycrane Retrieved Large,
Still-Glowing, Oval-Shaped Crash Object

Anyway, that’s when I heard the rotors going overhead. There were no lights, but I know what a skycrane sounds like and I know what it looks like.

Skycrane hauling up interferometer housing at Mt. Wilson Observatory
in Los Angeles, California, in 1998. Image source: Erickson Air-Crane, Inc.

And that skycrane was with at least four smaller helicopters. The skycrane and the smaller helicopters surrounded the crashed object and the sky crane picked the thing up still glowing and off it went. From the time that object impacted to the time it was picked up was only about 17 minutes!

HOW DO YOU THINK THE SKYCRANE PICKED UP THE BIG OBJECT?

That’s the funny part. I could not figure that out. I was there trying to call 911 about an airplane crash and I went back up to get the phone signal and the skycrane already had the big object in the air! I could tell because it was still glowing – it was still red hot. And up it went toward the northwest at an extremely high rate of speed, from where I’m at, directly towards Las Vegas. When it was coming before it hit, the object had the turquoise-blue color to it. Then it hit and bounced and I went to get my phone. Then the skycrane came and as they were hauling the object off, it had a gold-orange hot glow to it.

WHEN THE SKY-CRANE PICKED UP THE OBJECT WITH THE GOLD-ORANGE HOT GLOW, WAS THERE STILL SOME OF THE TURQUOISE COLOR?

Just in the front where it seemed to be wrinkled a bit. It was picked up either in a net or by cables, but they picked it up so quickly and flew it off so quickly.

THAT MEANS SOMEONE WAS TRACKING THE OBJECT ALL THE WAY DOWN AND ALREADY HAD THE SKYCRANE IN THE AIR TO RETRIEVE IT.



They must have because the time from when it hit the ground to when they flew off with it was not more than about 17 minutes.

WHERE WAS THE IMPACT IN RELATIONSHIP TO YOUR HOUSEBOAT? HOW FAR WAS IT FROM YOU?

Approximately less than 400 yards.

WHICH DIRECTION FROM THE RIVER?

Coming from straight up to straight down on the west side, California side, of the Colorado River.

DID ANY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR VEHICLES SHOW UP AFTER SUN UP?

No, the only thing that happened is that one of those small helicopters circled around my boat, shone a blue beam down that night, and then flew off.



KTOX Weekly Tuesday Guest Questioned

On Tuesday, May 27, 2008, David Hayes at KTOX hosted his regular morning radio program. Since May 14, he has talked about Frank Costigan's and R. B.'s fiery turquoise sighting and R. B.'s crash account. On May 27, David Hayes made a radio appeal for any other eyewitnesses to call KTOX and asked R. B. if he would call David again off air.

On May 27th, the KTOX regular weekly guest to discuss politics was Toni Sagan, a member of the local River Valley Democratic Club. Her radio topic was the Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton battle for the presidential nomination. Toni told me she did not absorb the details about R. B.'s experience during the radio broadcast and was very surprised at the Democratic Club meeting that week when a well-dressed stranger approached her at the meeting and began asking questions about the crash.

Toni told me the stranger called himself “Phil” and asked her if she knew R. B. She said she did not. Phil asked her if she knew any details from the off air conversation between David Hayes and R. B. off air. Toni told Phil she had no information. Phil sounded irritated and asked her if she heard any discussion about whether the object was on fire, what color it was, how big it was, did it splash in the river, who came to get it and where did R. B. live?

Toni Sagan told Phil she knew nothing about the crashed object or R. B., which further irritated him to say, ‘But you were sitting right there during the broadcast. Didn't you hear any discussion with R. B.?’

Toni was puzzled by the stranger's impatient interrogation during a Democratic Party meeting. The last she saw of Phil was his leaving the room to have a cigarette outside and he never returned. “Who do you think he was?” Toni asked. “His clothes were too neat and nice for Bullhead country here and his hair was cut short and neat. Do you think he was working for the military or government? If so, why would he ask me questions? It's David who runs KTOX and knows R. B.”

If any Earthfiles viewers have more information about the fiery turquoise-blue, oval-shaped object that crashed on the western side of the Colorado River south of Needles, California, near Topoc, Arizona, at 3 AM on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, please email me: earthfiles@earthfiles.com Confidentiality is always honored.



More Information:

For further information about unidentified aerial objects, please see my books and documentaries in the Earthfiles Shop and Earthfiles Archive reports listed below:

• 05/20/2008 — High Strangeness in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
• 05/06/2008 — Viewer Comments on Decatur, Alabama, White Sphere Incident
• 05/06/2008 — What Are the Strange “Pearls” in Google Map Images?
• 04/29/2008 — Part 1: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
• 04/24/2008 — Strange Aerial Lights Like Texas - But Now Photographed in Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts
• 04/23/2008 — Four Red, Unidentified Lights Change Patterns Over North Phoenix
• 04/07/2008 — Part 1: Bizarre Objects Caught by Illinois and Missouri Game Trail Cameras
• 04/07/2008 — Part 2: Bizarre Objects Caught by Illinois and Missouri Game Trail Cameras
• 04/06/2008 — Final Part 10: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 04/02/2008 — Part 9 - Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/31/2008 — Mysterious Aerial Spheres: Letters to Earthfiles
• 03/30/2008 — Part 8 - Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/28/2008 — Deer Mutilation in Longs, South Carolina, Two Helicopters and Large, White Sphere
• 03/20/2008 — Part 7 - Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/15/2008 — Part 6 - Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/08/2008 — Part 5: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/07/2008 — Mysterious Aerial “Drones” - Oklahoma and Arkansas
• 03/04/2008 — Part 4: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/03/2008 — Updated Part 1: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/02/2008 — Part 2: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 03/02/2008 — Part 3: Real X-File, Source Unknown
• 02/26/2008 — Viewer Comments About Infrared Cameras, Aerial Symbols and Lights
• 02/22/2008 — Updated: Three Eyewitnesses in Selden, Texas, Saw Two, Large Rectangles of “White Flames” in Sky
• 02/22/2008 — Updated: More Aerial “Symbols” Photographed Over Dublin, Texas
• 02/22/2008 — Abductee Jim Sparks Comments On Alien Symbol Technology
• 02/14/2008 — Update: Mysterious Symbols Projected in Night Sky by Aerial Disc Near Stephenville, Texas, Local Airport
• 02/08/2008 — Law Officers Describe Unidentified Shape-Shifting Aerial Craft in Stephenville, Texas, Region
• 01/28/2008 — Updated 01-28-08: Viewer Letters About Aerial Craft and Military Flyovers Above Dublin, Stephenville and Selden, Texas
• 01/24/2008 — Part 17, Final: In League With A UFO, Interview with Lou Baldin
• 01/18/2008 — Updated: Huge Aerial Craft Over Dublin, Texas, “Longer Than 3 Football Fields”
• 01/15/2008 — Updated: More Sky Spiral Mysteries in Iraq, Canada and Germany
• 01/13/2008 — Part 16: In League With A UFO, Interview with Lou Baldin
• 01/11/2008 — Canadian "Disc" and Smoke Spiral Still A Mystery
• 01/07/2008 — Part 15: In League With A UFO
• 01/05/2008 — Part 14: In League With A UFO
• 01/02/2008 — Part 13: In League With A UFO
• 12/29/2007 — Part 12: In League With A UFO
• 12/27/2007 — Updated - Part 11: In League With A UFO
• 12/22/2007 — Part 10: In League With A UFO
• 12/20/2007 — Updated: Viewer Letters About Secret American Military Space Program
• 12/18/2007 — Part 9: In League With A UFO
• 12/16/2007 — Part 8: In League With A UFO
• 12/14/2007 — Part 7: In League With A UFO
• 12/12/2007 — Part 6: In League With A UFO
• 12/11/2007 — More Confirmation of May 1974 Discs in Albuquerque and Huge Cylinder Craft At White Sands Proving Ground.
• 12/08/2007 — Another Eyewitness to Glowing Disc and Military Security in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• 12/07/2007 — Part 2: Secret American Military Space Program?
• 12/03/2007 — Part 5: In League With A UFO
• 12/01/2007 — Part 1: Secret American Military Space Program?
• 11/29/2007 — Part 1: Glowing Disc Encounter with Military in Albuquerque, NM
• 11/29/2007 — Part 2: Glowing Disc Encounter with Military in Albuquerque, NM
• 11/29/2007 — Part 3: Glowing Disc Encounter with Military in Albuquerque, NM
• 11/25/2007 — Part 4: In League With A UFO
• 11/21/2007 — Part 3: In League With A UFO
• 11/20/2007 — Do Black Budget Trillions Support A Secret American Space Program?
• 11/14/2007 — Part 2: In League With A UFO
• 11/08/2007 — More Unusual Animal Deaths
• 11/06/2007 — Part 1: In League With A UFO
• 10/31/2007 — Part 5: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
• 10/29/2007 — Part 4: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
• 10/25/2007 — Part 3: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
• 10/21/2007 — Viewer Comments About Big Triangles and Lights - In Conflict?
• 10/17/2007 — Updated: Half Cat Mutilations Persist in San Antonio, Texas
• 10/14/2007 — Part 2: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
• 10/08/2007 — Part 1: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
• 09/28/2007 — Earthfiles Mail About Cat Mutilations
• 09/26/2007 — Neatly Sliced Front Third of 14 Cats Found in Granbury, Texas
• 09/20/2007 — Part 2: Psi Spies - True Story of America's Psychic Warfare Program
• 09/16/2007 — Part 5: Military Insiders Comment About Zeta Reticuli and EBENs
• 09/14/2007 — Part 1: Psi Spies - True Story of America's Psychic Warfare Program
• 09/11/2007 — Part 4: Military Insiders Comment About Zeta Reticuli and EBENs
• 09/07/2007 — Part 3: Military Insiders Comment About Zeta Reticuli and EBENs
• 09/05/2007 — Part 2: Military Insiders Comment About Zeta Reticuli and EBENs
• 08/31/2007 — Part 1: Betty and Barney Hill: Captured!
• 08/31/2007 — Part 2: Betty and Barney Hill: Captured!
• 08/30/2007 — Part 1: Military Insiders Comment About Zeta Reticuli and EBENs
• 08/24/2007 — Orange-Red "Fiery" Aerial Spheres
• 08/17/2007 — Two Bulls and Several Cows Dead and Mutilated in Manitoba, Canada
• 08/01/2007 — Part 3, Non-Human Blonds, Greys and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Lizards
• 07/31/2007 — Part 2, Non-Human Blonds, Greys and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Lizards
• 07/28/2007 — Clarifications and Comments by Isaac
• 07/28/2007 — Mysterious Aerial Lights Over Stratford-upon-Avon, July 14, and Farnborough, Hampshire, on July 22, 2007
• 07/27/2007 — Updated: Part 1: 1,033-Foot-Long East Field Wheat Formation "Happened Within 90 Minutes."
• 07/26/2007 — Part 1, Non-Human Blonds, Lizards and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Greys
• 07/23/2007 — 070707 East Field Wheat Formation: Viewer Comments
• 07/14/2007 — Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii - Huge, Lime Green Oval Craft Hovered Over Battalion Headquarters
• 07/13/2007 — Iowa Minister Reports Large "Crab/Scorpion" Creature Attacked Cow
• 06/26/2007 — Part 1: Explanation of the Recent "Strange Craft" Sightings
• 06/22/2007 — Dragonfly "Drone" Seen October 1995 in Arizona
• 06/18/2007 — Crop Circles On Rings and Three Mysterious Aerial Lights in Slovenia
• 06/17/2007 — More Big Basin, California, Bizarre "Drone" Images
• 06/15/2007 — Part 1: Northridge, California, Aerial "Drone" Eyewitness On the Record
• 06/15/2007 — Part 2 - Star Wars Physicist Edward Teller, Outer Space Menace And Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs)
• 06/13/2007 — Into the Unknown with George Noory
• 06/08/2007 — More Drone Photos and Other Eyewitnesses
• 05/30/2007 — Birmingham-Type "Drone" Seen At Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, in Mid-1980s
• 05/29/2007 — Final Part 7: Eyewitness Links Animal Mutilations to Non-Humans
• 05/28/2007 — Letters About Unidentified "Drone" Aerial Objects
• 05/25/2007 — Two More Eyewitnesses of Aerial "Drones" in 2005 and 2006
• 05/21/2007 — Updated: Odd Aerial "Drone"? Photographed Again Over Capitola, California
• 05/16/2007 — Updated: Odd Aerial "Drones"? Over Lake Tahoe and Central California
• 05/16/2007 — Updated: Engineer Comments About Odd Aerial "Drones"? Over Lake Tahoe and Central California
• 05/11/2007 — CIA Origin of National Enquirer?
• 04/20/2007 — 2006 Human Encounter with Translucent Entity
• 04/18/2007 — Part 1: Eyewitness Links Animal Mutilations to Non-Humans
• 03/16/2007 — Tenth Anniversary of March 1997 Phoenix Lights: What Was the 2-Mile-Long Triangular Craft?
• 03/14/2007 — Part 5: Mysterious Events At 2005 Tawsmead Copse "Insectogram" Crop Formation
• 03/13/2007 — Part 4: Mysterious Events At 2005 Tawsmead Copse "Insectogram" Crop Formation
• 03/09/2007 — Zones of Fear and Diamond-Shaped Aerial Light
• 02/27/2007 — Part 1: Mysterious Events At 2005 Tawsmead Copse "Insectogram" Crop Formation
• 02/14/2007 — Part 3: Tappen, North Dakota, High Strangeness Provokes Many Emails from Viewers and Listeners
• 02/11/2007 — Part 1: Tappen, North Dakota, High Strangeness Provokes Many Emails from Viewers and Listeners
• 02/10/2007 — Part 12: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 02/08/2007 — Why Do UFOs Sometimes Play Cat and Mouse with Humans?
• 02/07/2007 — Part 11: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 01/30/2007 — Part 10: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 01/16/2007 — Part 9: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 01/02/2007 — Grey Aerial Disk Reported by Chicago O'Hare United Airlines Pilots and Mechanics
• 12/27/2006 — Part 7: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 12/18/2006 — Part 6: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 12/14/2006 — Abductee Jim Sparks's Encounter with Reptillian Beings, Their Warning and Possible Agenda
• 12/11/2006 — Part 5: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 12/06/2006 — Part 4: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 11/28/2006 — Part 2: Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue
• 11/27/2006 — Inside Saucer Post ...3-0 Blue © 1957 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 11/03/2006 — Another UFO Retaliation to Radar Lock On - 2003
• 10/28/2006 — Close UFO Encounter by USAF Eyewitnesses
• 10/26/2006 — Norwegian Crashed Disc and Other High Strangeness
• 10/19/2006 — UFO Retaliation to U. S. Army Radar Lock On in Florida, 1967
• 10/14/2006 — Big Sorghum Circle in Beloit, Kansas
• 10/11/2006 — Part 2: Time Travel, Insights from USAF Sergeant and UFO Abductee
• 10/08/2006 — Part 1: Time Travel, Insights from USAF Sergeant and UFO Abductee
• 10/07/2006 — Updated: 1953 Kinross AFB Mystery: F-89 Found in Lake Superior
• 10/02/2006 — Unusual Deaths of Six Female Goats in White Salmon, Washington
• 09/29/2006 — Manipulation of Time and Matter by Non-Humans: The Experiences of Jim Sparks
• 09/20/2006 — Updated: Three Sets of Concentric Rings in South Texas Field
• 09/20/2006 — Animal Mutilations Increase Again in Argentina
• 09/16/2006 — Disc Crash At Cedar Breaks Radar Site, Utah
• 09/05/2006 — Part 2: "Alphonso Lorenzo" - Military Visitor to Another Planet?
• 09/04/2006 — Part 1: "Alphonso Lorenzo" - Military Visitor to Another Planet?
• 07/17/2006 — Area 29 - A Reverse Engineering Center of E. T. Technology?
• 07/01/2006 — Cattle Mutilation and Glowing Discs in Saskatchewan, Canada
• 06/30/2006 — Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fatima Cover-Up
• 06/29/2006 — Another Horse Suspended in the Air
• 06/28/2006 — Half Cats in Destin, Florida, and Beheaded Animals in Rochester, N. Y.
• 06/22/2006 — Horse Suspended in Mid-Air Near Milan, Italy, Apartment
• 06/18/2006 — Viewer Letters About NASA Airbrushing Photos; EBENs and Reptilian Humanoids
• 06/13/2006 — Mysterious Triangle-Shaped Welts and Bruises
• 06/08/2006 — Part 2: Unexplained Phenomenon of Sudden Human-to-Reptile "Replacement"
• 06/07/2006 — Gary McKinnon: An Electronic "Robin Hood"?
• 05/05/2006 — Military Man's Description of EBE Telepathic Download
• 04/13/2006 — High Strangeness In Skies Near White Sands Missile Range
• 04/03/2006 — Genetic Harvest in Cimarron, New Mexico?
• 03/23/2006 — Part 15 - Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs
• 03/23/2006 — Part 2: U.S. Navy Chief Yeoman Describes "Extraterrestrial Biological Entities" in TOP SECRET/MAJIC Photographs
• 02/28/2006 — Part 13 - Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs
• 02/27/2006 — Part 4: Military Voices Reply About Government Interaction with UFOs
• 02/23/2006 — Huge Boomerang Craft and Blond Beings
• 02/22/2006 — Part 3: Military Voices Reply About Government Interaction with UFOs
• 02/21/2006 — Part 2: Military Voices Reply About Government Interaction with UFOs
• 02/17/2006 — Updated: White Sands Navy Radar Operator Saw Discs Circle V-2 Rocket Launches
• 02/13/2006 — Mysterious, Aerial Bars of Light Near Brawley, California
• 02/10/2006 — NORAD "Fast Walkers" and "Men In Black"
• 02/10/2006 — Crashed Disc Photos, "Ebens," and Area 51 "Anti-Gravity"
• 02/07/2006 — Military Voices Reply About Government Interaction with UFOs.
• 02/05/2006 — Part 11 - Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs
• 01/27/2006 — Part 2: Navy Physicist and USAF Geophysicist Discuss UFOs and ETs
• 01/20/2006 — Part 1: Navy Physicist and USAF Geophysicist Discuss UFOs and ETs
• 01/17/2006 — Part 9 - Peculiar Phenomenon: Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs
• 01/13/2006 — 31st Cattle Mutilation on Red Bluff, California Ranch
• 12/21/2005 — Updated: Part 2 - Peculiar Phenomenon, Early United States Efforts to Collect and Analyze Flying Discs
• 12/02/2005 — Abduction by Grey ETs in Huge, Black Triangle
• 12/02/2005 — Former Canadian Minister of Defence Calls for Public Parliament Hearings About UFOs and Extraterrestrials
• 11/11/2005 — Part 3: An Alleged 1953 UFO Crash and Burial Near Garrison, Utah
• 11/10/2005 — Part 2: An Alleged 1953 UFO Crash and Burial Near Garrison, Utah
• 11/02/2005 — Part 3: Unusual Animal Deaths -Sheep Mutilations in Moortown, Dartmoor, England
• 10/27/2005 — Updated: Five "Satellites" That Merged As One Star
• 10/25/2005 — Part 6 - Final: Retrievals of the Third Kind - A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody
• 10/13/2005 — Part 5: Retrievals of the Third Kind - A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody
• 10/07/2005 — Part 1: Beam Technology Lifted Body Near Ft. Stewart, Georgia
• 10/05/2005 — Part 4: Retrievals of the Third Kind - A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody
• 10/04/2005 — "Stars" That Move In Patterns
• 09/30/2005 — Part 3: Retrievals of the Third Kind - A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody
• 09/26/2005 — Part 2: Retrievals of the Third Kind - Kingman, Arizona Crash
• 09/25/2005 — Part 1: Retrievals of the Third Kind - A Case Study of Alleged UFOs and Occupants in Military Custody
• 09/19/2005 — Final Part 9: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 09/17/2005 — Part 8: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 09/15/2005 — Animal Mutilations Reported in Switzerland, Hollywood and Kansas
• 09/14/2005 — Part 7: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 09/09/2005 — Rock Stars and Extraterrestrials
• 09/08/2005 — Canadian UFO Researcher Blocked by U. S. Homeland Security From Speaking at NUFOC Conference, Hollywood
• 09/06/2005 — Part 6: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 08/26/2005 — Another Cattle Mutilation in Canada
• 08/22/2005 — Part 5: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 08/17/2005 — Part 4: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 07/29/2005 — Bentwaters and Rendlesham Forest Mystery Beyond December 1980
• 07/23/2005 — Mystery of Six Grass Circle Formations in North Carolina
• 07/20/2005 — Part 3: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 07/14/2005 — Part 2: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 07/12/2005 — Part 1: The UFO Crash/Retrieval Syndrome: Status Report II - New Sources, New Data
• 07/05/2005 — Part 15: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 06/23/2005 — Updated: More Than 3,000 Unusual Animal Deaths Reported in Argentina and Chile Since 2002
• 06/20/2005 — Part 14: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 06/17/2005 — Unusual Cow Death in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, Canada
• 06/17/2005 — Part 13: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 05/26/2005 — Part 1 - Brazilian Air Force Opens Its UFO Files to Public
• 05/20/2005 — May 2005 Crop Formation Update in Six Countries
• 05/10/2005 — Part 12: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidenc
• 05/04/2005 — Part 11: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 04/28/2005 — Dozens of Unidentified Aerial Objects Videotaped Over Sonora, California
• 04/19/2005 — Part 10: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 04/18/2005 — Part 9: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 04/17/2005 — 1949 Aerial Disc Covered-Up By Project Blue Book As "Kite"
• 04/14/2005 — "Battle of Los Angeles" On February 25, 1942: When America's 37th Coast Artillery Brigade Fired Off 1,430 Anti-Aircraft Shells At A UFO
• 04/13/2005 — Highly Strange Dog Death in Arkansas; 2000-Pound Bull Dropped On Log Pile and Calf Skinned
• 04/05/2005 — Part 8: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 03/28/2005 — Part 7: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/24/2005 — Part 6: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 03/22/2005 — Part 5: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/13/2005 — Part 4: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 03/08/2005 — Flying Disc Paced Airliner Over Puget Sound Navy Yard
• 03/07/2005 — Part 3: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence
• 03/03/2005 — Part 2: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/01/2005 — Part 1: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report III - Amassing The Evidence © June 1982 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 02/23/2005 — FINAL Part 4: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report IV - Fatal Encounter At Ft. Dix-McGuire
• 02/21/2005 — Updated - Bull and Cow Mutilations Northwest of Corpus Christi, Texas
• 02/19/2005 — Part 3: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report IV - Fatal Encounter At Ft. Dix-McGuire
• 02/13/2005 — Part 1: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report IV - Fatal Encounter At Ft. Dix-McGuire
• 02/11/2005 — Story Behind "Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation"
• 02/07/2005 — FINAL Part 3: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report V - Is The Cover-Up Lid Lifting?
• 02/04/2005 — Part 2: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report V - Is The Cover-Up Lid Lifting?
• 01/30/2005 — Part 1: UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Report V - Is The Cover-Up Lid Lifting?
• 01/26/2005 — Final Part 28: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 01/17/2005 — Part 27: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 01/15/2005 — Part 26: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 01/15/2005 — Bull and Cow Mutilations Northwest of Corpus Christi, Texas
• 01/11/2005 — Part 25: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 01/04/2005 — Part 23: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 12/30/2004 — September 12, 1952: America's "Secret War"? Part 1: UFO Retrieval in Flatwoods, West Virginia
• 12/30/2004 — September 12, 1952: America's "Secret War"? Part 2: USAF Starfire Disappeared Over Gulf of Mexico
• 12/30/2004 — September 12, 1952: America's "Secret War"? Part 3: Nuclear Physicist Stanton Friedman Comments
• 12/30/2004 — Audience Feedback About Earthfiles "September 12, 1952: America's 'Secret War'?"
• 12/22/2004 — Part 1: "Reasons Why U.S. Government CAN'T Release Truth About UFOs!" with Canadian Researcher, Grant Cameron
• 12/22/2004 — Part 2: "Reasons Why U.S. Government CAN'T Release Truth About UFOs!" with Canadian Researcher, Grant Cameron
• 12/19/2004 — Part 21: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 12/17/2004 — Updated - Feedback About Destruction of U. S. Military Records
• 12/10/2004 — Part 3: "Peculiar Phenomena," V-2 Rockets - and UFOB Retaliation?
• 12/10/2004 — Part 4: "Peculiar Phenomena," V-2 Rockets - and UFOB Retaliation?
• 12/07/2004 — Part 2: "Peculiar Phenomena," V-2 Rockets - and UFOB Retaliation?
• 12/04/2004 — Part 1: "Peculiar Phenomena," V-2 Rockets - and UFOB Retaliation?
• 11/26/2004 — Part 20: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 11/12/2004 — Strange Metal Pieces from Plains of San Agustin Alleged UFO Crash Site Analyzed.
• 11/03/2004 — Gen. Wesley Clark - Has He Been Briefed About UFOs?
• 10/29/2004 — Part 1: Update On Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, UFO Case. See Upcoming Crash Retrieval Conference in Las Vegas, November 12 - 14
• 10/29/2004 — Part 2: Update On Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, UFO Case. See Upcoming Crash Retrieval Conference in Las Vegas, November 12 - 14
• 10/23/2004 — 1948 Aztec, New Mexico UFO Crash: Policemen, Disk and Humanoids
• 10/10/2004 — Part 2: Texas Case of Shape-Shifting Human-to-Reptilian
• 09/25/2004 — Part 6: "Clearview" Report on the Investigation of UFO Experiences on A Rocky Mountain Ranch
• 09/23/2004 — Part 5: "Clearview" Report on the Investigation of UFO Experiences on A Rocky Mountain Ranch
• 09/19/2004 — Part 4: "Clearview" Report on the Investigation of UFO Experiences on A Rocky Mountain Ranch
• 09/13/2004 — Part 1: "Clearview" Report on the Investigation of UFO Experiences on A Rocky Mountain Ranch
• 09/10/2004 — Part 17: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 09/06/2004 — Part 2: Terry Sherman - 1996 Interview About High Strangeness on Fort Duchesne, Utah Ranch
• 09/04/2004 — Hillsboro, Ohio Corn Formation - High Strangeness in Soil and Plants
• 08/30/2004 — Part 16: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 08/28/2004 — Cow Mutilation and Loud, Unidentified Sound in Farnam, Nebraska
• 08/20/2004 — Part 2 - The Apollo Program, Cape Canaveral and UFOs
• 08/18/2004 — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Wants More Investigation of 1947 Roswell UFO Crash
• 08/13/2004 — Part 15: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 08/06/2004 — Updated - Truck Driver Who Allegedly Saw Craft and "Lizard" Arm from 1965 Kecksburg, PA Crash
• 08/05/2004 — Part 14: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 07/27/2004 — Part 12: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 07/21/2004 — The Apollo Program, Cape Canaveral and UFOs
• 07/17/2004 — Inside Job - Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies by Jim Marrs
• 07/02/2004 — Part 11: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 06/27/2004 — Part 10: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 05/17/2004 — Updated - Crop Formation Reported in Zabno, Poland
• 05/16/2004 — Part 8: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 05/11/2004 — An Extraordinary Photograph in A Dutch Home
• 04/30/2004 — Part 2 - Ted Phillips's Search for "Black Mirror" Cylinder in Slovakia
• 04/21/2004 — At the X-Conference, Former Naval Intelligence Officer, C. B. Scott Jones
• 04/13/2004 — Part 7: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/26/2004 — Back Engineering ET Craft
• 03/17/2004 — Part 1 - "Horrible Secret" in UFO Crash Retrievals Near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947?
• 03/17/2004 — Part 2 - "Horrible Secret" in UFO Crash Retrievals Near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947?
• 03/14/2004 — Part 5: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/08/2004 — Part 4: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 03/01/2004 — Part 3: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 02/25/2004 — Part 2: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 02/24/2004 — Part 1: UFO Crash/Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum - Status Report VI © July 1991 by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 02/16/2004 — Part 15: Epilogue - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Leonard H. Stringfield
• 02/13/2004 — Part 14 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 02/12/2004 — Part 13 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 02/07/2004 — Part 12 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 01/24/2004 — Are Military Jets Chasing UFOs in Bloomington, Indiana?
• 01/21/2004 — Part 8 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 01/18/2004 — Part 7 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 01/18/2004 — Huge Moving "Triangle of Stars" Over Alberta, Canada
• 01/11/2004 — Part 6 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 12/29/2003 — Part 5 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 12/21/2003 — Part 4 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 12/19/2003 — Part 3 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 12/17/2003 — Part 2 - UFO Crash/Retrievals, Status Report VII by Len Stringfield
• 12/13/2003 — What Snapped Off Big Trees in A Circle in Ruby, Alaska?
• 11/07/2003 — British UFO Crash Retrievals
• 10/28/2003 — Part 2 - U. S. Presidents and UFO Investigations
• 10/25/2003 — Part 1 - What Does NASA Know About 1965 Aerial Vehicle Crash in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania?
• 09/12/2003 — Second Soybean Crop Formation in Ohio is Manmade. Special USAF Investigation Unit Involved?
• 08/29/2003 — Part 1 - Why Do Military Helicopters Focus On Crop Formations?
• 08/21/2003 — Avebury Eyewitnesses Follow Aerial Disk to Field East of Cherhill
• 06/27/2003 — Part 2 - Mysterious Lights and Fourteen Crop Formations in Italy
• 05/28/2003 — Cat and Dog Mutilations in Salt Lake City; $6,500 Reward
• 05/18/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 5, Part One
• 05/18/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 5, Part Two
• 04/22/2003 — UFO Experiences Reported by Forest Fire Lookouts
• 04/06/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 4, Part Three
• 03/30/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 4, Part Two
• 03/28/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 4, Part One
• 03/19/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 3, Part Three
• 03/08/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 3, Part Two
• 02/03/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 3, Part One
• 01/21/2003 — Mutilated Horse Baffles Police in Des Moines, Iowa
• 01/16/2003 — Dubayy, United Arab Emirates Shopping Mall Uses "UFO Fly-Over" to Promote January Store Festival
• 01/15/2003 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 2, Part Three
• 12/21/2002 — Part 2 - Corguinho, Brazil: Close Encounters with Tall Red-Haired and Blond-Haired Non-Human Beings
• 12/07/2002 — Cattle Mutilation - The Unthinkable Truth, Chapter 1, Part Three
• 11/19/2002 — What Broke Up Between Afyon and Yalova, Turkey On November 1, 2002?
• 11/09/2002 — UPDATED: Majestic-12 Documents with Ryan Wood About Extraterrestrial Technologies
• 11/03/2002 — Chapter 12 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 11/03/2002 — Chapter 13 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/30/2002 — Unidentified Aerial Object Over Albany, N. Y. Airport
• 10/28/2002 — Chapter 11 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/26/2002 — Former White House Aide, John Podesta, Says Government Should Open Up UFO Files
• 10/26/2002 — Chapter 10 - Mystery Stalks the Prairie
• 10/20/2002 — Chapter 9 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/15/2002 — Chapter 8 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/13/2002 — Chapter 7 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/09/2002 — Extraterrestrial Biological Entities and Discs Described by CIA/U.S. Army Administrator, 1957-1960
• 10/08/2002 — Chapter 6 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/03/2002 — Chapter 5 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 09/09/2002 — Chapter 1 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 07/23/2002 — Mysterious, Buzzing Light in Tehachapi, California
• 06/15/2002 — Cattle Mutilations In LaPampa, Argentina
• 04/20/2002 — Canadian and American Officials In 1950s Collaborated on Study of Unidentified Aerial Disks
• 04/17/2002 — Part 2 - Unidentified Aerial Craft Over Farmington and Aztec, New Mexico in Spring 1949
• 01/19/2002 — Nine Unidentified Aerial Objects Tracked at 8,000 mph on 1952 Radar
• 05/11/2001 — Horse Slashings and Deaths in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 05/04/2001 — Part 3 - Retired Army Sergeant Describes 1969 Film of Unidentified Craft
• 04/30/2001 — Part 2 - Former U.S. Army Sergeant Describes 1969 Film of Non-Human Entities
• 04/29/2001 — Part 1 - Former Army Sergeant Describes 1969 Film of Alien Craft and Entities
• 04/21/2001 — April 1986: After Chernobyl Melt Down, What Flew Over Mannheim, Germany?
• 06/22/2000 — The UFO/FBI Connection by U. S. Navy Physicist, Bruce S. Maccabee - Part 5
• 06/21/2000 — The UFO/FBI Connection by U. S. Navy Physicist, Bruce S. Maccabee - Part 4
• 06/19/2000 — The UFO/FBI Connection by U. S. Navy Physicist, Bruce S. Maccabee - Part 2
• 06/18/2000 — The UFO/FBI Connection by U. S. Navy Physicist, Bruce S. Maccabee - Part 1
• 03/21/2000 — Mysterious Fires in Bartlesville, Oklahoma - 1966/1967
• 03/10/2000 — New Energy Patent - Hydrogen Gas from Algae
• 02/21/2000 — Green Square Unidentified Aerial Craft Over Phoenix
• 10/24/1999 — A U. S. Army Infantryman's Abduction
• 09/05/1999 — Delphos, Kansas Ring Mystery - More Analyses
• 01/28/1999 — Army Sgt. Clifford Stone's and Triangle Craft in Germany, 1989
• 01/10/1999 — Updates: Astronomy and Rufus Baughn, Nevada Test Site

Websites:

Majestic-12 Documents: http://www.majesticdocuments.com

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http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1432&category=Environment

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Watchmen Movie gets Cancelled

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_4339.html

The Watchmen Movie gets Cancelled


Movie The Watchmen Posted By: / Source


According to Variety, The Watchmen has been cancelled. No surprise since Paramount has been fighting to bring the budget down for some time. The producers and director have now taken the film and are shopping it to other studios.. so technically its not dead, its just dead at Paramont.

The Watchmen is about the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet!

Following two generations of masked superheroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story — the story of The Watchmen.

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_4339.html


......
I hope this bullshit isn't true,I loved the Dark Knight....but a few times I saw it was just to see the Watchmen trailer

http://my.spill.com/forum/topic/show?id=947994%3ATopic%3A515806


Watchmen might be cancelled?

A judge has denied a Warner Bros motion to dismiss 20th Century Fox's lawsuit over Warners' right to make a film based on the graphic novel "Watchmen."

Ruling is potentially a huge victory for Fox, which could wind up as a profit participant in the film, and could cost Warners millions considering the film's box office prospects. However, Fox's legal team says it isn't looking for monetary compensation and instead wants to prevent the big-budget film from being released altogether.

Project, which has been in development for two decades, finally began lensing in September with Zack Snyder at the helm. Warners was set to release the film, which stars Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley, on March 6th in the same slot in which "300" opened.

At the heart of Fox's suit, filed in February, is the contention that it never ceded rights to the property. And according to the federal Judge Gary Allen Feess, Fox retained distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons through a 1991 claim. Furthermore, Feess appears to agree that under a 1994 turnaround deal with producer Larry Gordon, Gordon acquired an option to acquire Fox's remaining interest in "Watchmen," which was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under the 1994 agreement.

The court has asked the two parties for expedited discovery; generally the discovery process can take up to two years. Because the film has already wrapped and is dated for spring 2009, the judge wants to move forward quickly.

"We will be asking the court to enforce Fox's copyright interests in 'The Watchmen' and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros film and any related 'Watchmen' media that violate our copyright interests in that property," said Fox.

Surprisingly, Fox said it would rather see the film killed instead of collecting a percentage of the box office. "When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover," said a source close to the litigation.

Fox spent more than $1 million developing "Watchmen" but had not previously taken legal action against the project, which had been in development at Paramount several years ago.

http://my.spill.com/forum/topic/show?id=947994%3ATopic%3A515806

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Elizabeth Bathory Countess Dracula



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory

Elizabeth Báthory

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Elizabeth Báthory
Elizabeth Báthory

Born August 7, 1560
Nyírbátor, Kingdom of Hungary
Died August 21, 1614 (aged 54)
Čachtice, Kingdom of Hungary
Penalty House Arrest until Death
Status Nobility
Occupation Royal Family of Hungary
Spouse Ferenc Nádasdy

Countess Elizabeth Báthory (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian, Alžbeta Bátoriová in Slovak, Alžběta Báthoryová in Czech, Elżbieta Batory in Polish, August 7, 1560August 21, 1614), was a Hungarian countess from the renowned Báthory family. She is possibly the most prolific serial killer in history and is remembered as the "Blood Countess" and as Bloody Lady of Čachtice, after the castle near Trenčín, at that time in Royal Hungary, where she spent most of her life.

She spent most of her adult life at Čachtice Castle in what is now Slovakia. The Báthory family is famous for defending Hungary against the Ottoman Turks.

After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though she was only convicted on 80 counts.[1] In 1610, she was imprisoned in Čachtice Castle, where she remained bricked in her room until her death four years later. She was never formally tried in court.

This spread the true story[citation needed] of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth. These stories have led to comparisons with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and to modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Life

[edit] Early years

Elizabeth Báthory was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was George Báthory, a brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who had been Voivod of Transylvania of the Ecsed branch of the family, while her mother was Anna Báthory (1539-1570), daughter of Stephen Báthory, another Voivod of Transylvania, of the Somlyó branch. Through her mother, she was the niece of Stefan Báthory, King of Poland.

[edit] Married life

At the age of 11, Báthory was engaged to Ferenc Nádasdy and moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár, Hungary. In 1575, she married Nádasdy in Varannó not long after giving birth to a daughter concieved by sex play with a servant at Sarvar. She was sent to a far Bathory castle to give birth, This daughter along with the midwife were sent in exile to Transylvania, though not without a large sum of money. Anna Bathory carefully hushed up the affair so as to not hinder the upcoming nuptuals.lNádasdy’s wedding gift to Báthory was his home, Čachtice Castle, situated in the Little Carpathians near Trenčín, together with the Čachtice country house and 17 adjacent villages. The castle itself was surrounded by a village and agricultural lands, bordered by outcrops of the Little Carpathians. In 1602, Nádasdy finally bought the castle from Rudolf II, so that it became a private property of the family.

In 1578, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. With her husband away at war, Elizabeth Báthory managed business affairs and the estates. That role usually included providing for the Hungarian and Slovak peasants, even medical care.

During the height of the Long War (1593-1606), she was charged with the defense of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to Vienna.[2] The threat was significant, for the village of Čachtice had previously been plundered by the Ottomans while Sárvár, located near the border that divided Royal Hungary and Ottoman occupied Hungary, was in even greater danger.

She was an educated woman who could read and write in four languages.[2] There were several instances where she intervened on behalf of destitute women, including a woman whose husband was captured by the Turks and a woman whose daughter was raped and impregnated. She was interested in science and astronomy.[citation needed]

Her husband died in 1604 at the age of 47. His death is commonly reported as resulting from an injury sustained in battle.

[edit] Arrest

[edit] Early investigation

Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran parish priest István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumors had spread.[3]

The Hungarian authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints. Finally, in 1610, King Matthias assigned György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate. Thurzó ordered two notaries to collect evidence in March 1610.[4] Even before obtaining the results,[5] Thurzó debated further proceedings with Elizabeth's son Paul and two of her sons-in-law. A trial and execution would have caused a public scandal and disgraced a noble and influential family (which at the time ruled Transylvania), and Elizabeth's considerable property would have been seized by the crown. Thurzó agreed that Elizabeth Báthory should be kept under strict house arrest, but that further punishment should be avoided.[6] It was also determined that Matthias did not have to repay a large debt for which he lacked sufficient funds.[7]

[edit] Arrest and trial

Thurzó went to Čachtice Castle on December 30, 1610 and arrested Báthory and four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices. Thurzó's men reportedly found one girl dead and one dying. Another woman was found wounded, others locked up.[8]

But on the court later Elizabeth was missing as also all her personal household and dependants from her castle. The only statements that were written down were said by aristocrats and people that never lived in or around her castle. All potential witnesses from her castle as also the girls that "were found by Thurzo on Dec. 30 wounded and locked" were never given the chance of speaking on the court.

While the countess was put under house arrest (and remained so from that point on), her associates were brought to court. A trial was held on January 7, 1611 at Bytča. The trial was presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and 20 associate judges. Bathory herself did not appear at the trial. Intimidation and torture were part of the judicial process. She was also accused of witchcraft and pagan practices.[9]

The defendants at that trial were:

  • Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorko.
  • Ilona Jó
  • Katarína Benická
  • János Újváry, "Ibis" or Ficko.

Dorko, Ilona and Ficko were found guilty and executed on the spot. Dorko and Ilona had their fingernails ripped out before they were thrown into a fire, while Ficko, who was deemed less guilty, was beheaded before being consigned to the flames. A public scaffold was erected near the castle to show the public that justice had been done. Katarína Benická was sentenced to life imprisonment, as she only acted under the domination and bullying by the other women, as implied by recorded testimony.[citation needed]

[edit] Last years and death

During the trial of her primary servants, Elizabeth had been placed under house arrest in a single room. She remained there for four years, until her death.

King Matthias had urged Thurzó to bring her to court and two notaries were sent to collect further evidence[10], but in the end no court proceedings against her were ever commenced.

On August 21, 1614, Elizabeth Báthory was found dead in her castle. Since there were several plates of food untouched, her actual date of death is unknown. She was buried in the church of Čachtice, but due to the villagers' uproar over having "The Tigress of Csejthe" buried in their cemetary her body was moved to her birthhome at Nagyecsed in Hungary, where it is interred at the Bathory family crypt. .[11]

[edit] Accusations

In 1610 and 1611 the notaries collected testimonies from more than 300 witness accounts. Trial records include testimonies of the four defendants, as well as 13 more witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. Witnesses included the castellan and other personnel of Sárvár castle.

According to these testimonies, her initial victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Čachtice by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later she is said to have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions were said to have occurred as well.

The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included:

  • severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death.
  • burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia.
  • biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts.
  • freezing to death.
  • bad surgery on victims, often leading to death.
  • starving of victims.

The use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court.

Some witnesses named relatives who died while at the gynaeceum. Others reported having seen traces of torture on dead bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others in unmarked locations.

According to the defendants' confessions, Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed her victims not only at Čachtice but also on her properties in Sárvár, Sopronkeresztúr, Bratislava and Vienna, and even between these locations.

In addition to the defendants, several people were named for supplying Elizabeth Báthory with young women. The girls had been procured either by deception or by force.

A little-known figure named Anna Darvulia was also rumoured to have influenced much of Báthory's early sadistic career but apparently died long before the trial.

The number of young women tortured and killed by Elizabeth Báthory is unknown, though it is often cited as being in the hundreds, between the years 1585 and 1610. The estimates differ greatly. During the trial and before their execution, Szentes and Ficko reported 36 and 37 respectively, during their periods of service. The other defendants estimated a number of 50 or higher. Many Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 to 200. One witness who spoke at the trial mentioned a book in which a total of over 650 victims was supposed to have been listed by Báthory herself. This book was never mentioned anywhere else, nor was it ever discovered; however, this number became part of the legend surrounding Báthory.

László Nagy has argued that Elizabeth Báthory was a victim of a conspiracy,[12] a view opposed by others.[13] Nagy argued that the proceedings were largely politically motivated. However the conspiracy theory is consistent with Hungarian history at that time.[14]

[edit] Folklore, literature and popular culture

The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth.

This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar László Turóczi’s Tragica Historia,[15] the first written account of the Báthory case.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this certainty was questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a far more plausible motive for Elizabeth Báthory's crimes.[16] In 1817, the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time,[17] demonstrating that the bloodbaths, for the purpose of preserving her youth, were legend rather than fact.

The legend nonetheless persisted in the popular imagination. Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing female vanity, while other versions aimed to entertain or thrill their audience. During the twentieth and twenty first centuries, Elizabeth Báthory has continued to appear as a character in music, film, plays, books, games and toys and to serve as an inspiration for similar characters.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Countess Elizabeth Bathory - The Blood Countess - The Crime library
  2. ^ a b Báthory Erzsébet - Elizabeth Báthory: Short FAQ
  3. ^ Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 234-237.
  4. ^ Letters from Thurzó to both men on March 5, 1610, printed in Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 265-266, 276-278.
  5. ^ On September 19, 1610, Andreas of Keresztúr sent 34 witness accounts to Thurzó. On October 27, 1610 Mózes Cziráky sent 18 accounts.
  6. ^ Letter from December 12, 1610 by Elizabeth's son-in-law Zrinyi to Thurzó refers to agreement made earlier. See Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 291.
  7. ^ McNally, Raymond T. (1983). Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070456712.
  8. ^ Letter from Thurzó to his wife, December 30, 1610, printed in Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 293.
  9. ^ McNally, Raymond T. (1983). Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070456712.
  10. ^ 224 Witness accounts were sent to Matthias on 28 July, 1611 by A. of Keresztúr, 12 by M. Cziraky on 14 December, 1611,
  11. ^ Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 246.
  12. ^ László Nagy: A rossz hirü Báthoryak. Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó 1984
  13. ^ György Pollák: Az irástudók felelötlensége. In: Kritika. Müvelödéspollitikai és kritikai lap. Budapest, January 1986, p. 21-22
  14. ^ P.F. Sugar etal:A History of Hungary. Indiana University Press, 1990, p. 97
  15. ^ in Ungaria suis cum regibus compendia data, Typis Academicis Soc. Jesu per Fridericum Gall. Anno MCCCXXIX. Mense Sepembri Die 8. p 188-193, quoted by Farin
  16. ^ Alois Freyherr von Mednyansky: Elisabeth Báthory, in Hesperus, Prague, October 1812, vol. 2, No. 59, p. 470-472, quoted by Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 61-65.
  17. ^ Hesperus, Prague, June 1817, Vol. 1, No. 31, p. 241-248 and July 1817, Vol. 2, No. 34, p. 270-272

[edit] Further reading

In English:

  • McNally, Raymond T. (1983). Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070456712.
  • Penrose, Valentine (trans. Alexander Trocchi) (2006). The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsébet Báthory. Solar Books. ISBN 0971457824.
  • Thorne, Tony (1997). Countess Dracula. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747529000.

In French:

  • Périsset, Maurice (2001). Le comtesse de sang. Pygmalion. ISBN 2857047002.

In German:

  • Farin, Michael (2003). Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. Munich: P. Kirchheim. ISBN 3-87410-038-3.

In Hungarian:

  • Bessenyei, József (2005). A Nádasdyak. General Press Kiadó. ISBN 9639598658.
  • Nagy, László (1984). A rossz hírű Báthoryak. Kossuth Könyvkiadó. ISBN 9630923084.
  • Péter, Katalin (1985). A csejtei várúrnő: Báthory Erzsébet. Helikon. ISBN 9632076524.
  • Szádeczky-Kardoss, Irma (1993). Báthory Erzsébet igazsága. Nestor Kiadó. ISBN 963752326x.
  • Welden, Oscar (pseud. for István Nemere) (2000). Báthory Erzsébet magánélete. Anno kiadó. ISBN 9633752248.

In Slovak:

  • Dvořák, Pavel (1999). Krvavá grófka: Alžbeta Bátoryová, fakty a výmysly. Slovart. ISBN 9788085501070.
  • Nižnánsky, Jožo (2001). Čachtická pani. Media klub. ISBN 8088963524.


[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Báthory, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Báthory Erzsébet (Hungarian); Bátoriová(-Nádašdy), Alžbeta (Slovak); Bloody Lady of Čachtice (nickname); Lady Dracula (nickname)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Countess and serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH August 7?, 1560
PLACE OF BIRTH Nyírbátor, Hungary
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1614
PLACE OF DEATH Čachtice, Slovakia
http://bathory.org/shyla.html

Shyla's History of Erzsébet

[Note from Dennis: This page was written several years ago and contributed by Shyla, then an art student. It continues to be included here only for site completeness. It has factual errors, and should not be used for reference.]

Shyla's Realm


Film image of the Countess BathoryPoster of Cruelty and the BeastThe only portrait of the Countess

1560: Elizabeth Bathory is born into one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Transylvania. Her family had many powerful relatives -- a cardinal, princes, and a cousin who was prime minister of Hungary are among these relatives. The most famous relative was Istvan (ISHT-vahn) Bathory (1533-86). Istvan was prince of Transylvania and king of poland from 1575-86. It has been said that At around the age of 4 or 5, Elizabeth had violent seizures. These may have been caused by epilepsy or another neurological disorder and may have something to do with her "psychotic" behavior later in life.

1575: Age 15, Elizabeth married Count Ferenc (pronounced FAIR-entz) Nadasdy (NAW-dawzhd with silent y). The Count was 26 years of age. The count took Elizabeth's surname so that she could keep her name. They lived together in Castle Cséjthe (which in hungarian is pronounced CHAY-tuh). In Slovak this Castle is named Cachtice (pronounced CHAKH-teet-suh). [To this day there is rivalry between the Hungarians and the Slovak's and you will get a blank expression if you refer to the "wrong" name.] The count spent a great deal of time away from home fighting in wars and for this he was nicknamed "The Black Hero of Hungary". While her husband was away Elizabeth's manservant Thorko introduced her to the occult. For a brief time Elizabeth eloped with a "dark stranger". Upon her return to Castle Cachtice the count did forgive her for her leaving. Back at the castle, Elizabeth couldn't tolerate her domineering mother-in-law. With the help of her old nurse Ilona Joo, she began to torture the servant girls. Her other accomplices included the major-domo János Ujvary (pronounced YAH-nosh OOEE-vahr-yuh), Thorko, a forest witch named Darvula and a witch Dorottya Szentes. The first ten years of their marriage, Elizabeth bore no children because she and Ferenc shared so little time together as he pursued his "career." Then around 1585, Elizabeth bore a girl whom she named Anna, and over the following nine years gave birth to two more girls, Ursula and Katherina, and in 1598 bore her first and only son, Paul. Judging from letters she wrote to relatives, she was a good wife and protective mother, which was not surprising since nobles usually treated immediate family very differently from the lower servants and peasant classes.

1600: At age 51, Count Ferenc died in battle and thus began Elizabeth's period of atrocities. First, she sent her hated mother-in-law away from the Castle. By this time it is thought that she had dabbled into some forms of sorcery, attending rituals that included the sacrificing of horses and other animals. Elizabeth, now 40 years old, grew increasingly vain and she feared the thought of aging as she may lose her beauty. One day a servant girl accidentially pulled her hair while combing it. Elizabeth slapped the girl's hand so hard she drew blood. The girls blood fell into ELizabeth's hand and she immediately thought that her skin took on the freshness of her young maid. She believed that she had found the secret of eternal youth. Elizabeth had her major-domo and Thorko strip the maid and then cut her and drain her blood into a huge vat. Elizabeth bathed in it to beautify her entire body.

1600 - 1610: Elizabeth's henchmen continued to provided Elizabeth with new girls for the blood-draining ritual and her blood baths. Elizabeth went out of her way to see to it that the dead girls were given proper Christian burials by the local Protestant pastor, at least initially. As the body count rose, the pastor refused to perform his duties in this respect, because there were too many girls coming to him from Elizabeth who had died of "unknown and mysterious causes." She then threatened him in order to keep him from spreading the news of her "hobby" and continued to have the bodies buried secretly. Near the end, many bodies were disposed of in haphazard and dangerously conspicuous locations (like nearby fields, wheat silos, the stream running behind the castle, the kitchen vegetable garden, etc.). But one of her intended victims escaped and told the authorities about what was happening at Castle Cachtice. King Mátyás (MAHT-yash) of Hungary ordered Elizabeth's own cousin, Count György (pronounced DYERD-yuh) Thurzo, governor of the province to raid the castle. On December 30, 1610 they raided the castle and they were horrified by the terrible sights. One dead girl in the main room, drained of blood and another alive whose body had been pierced with holes. In the dungeon they discoverd several living girls, some of whose bodies had been pierced several times. Below the castle, they exhumed the bodies of some 50 girls.

1611: A trial was held at Bitcse. Elizabeth, who refused to plead either guilty or innocent, and never appeared in the trial.. At this trial Johannes Ujvary, major-domo, testified that about 37 unmarried girls has been killed, six of whom he had personally recruited to work at the castle. The trial revealed that most of the girls were tortured for weeks or even months. They were cut with scissors, pricked with pins, even prodded with burning irons onto short spikes in a cage hung from the ceiling to provide Bathory with a "blood shower". Sometimes the two witches tortured these girls, or the Countess did it herself. Elizabeth's old nurse testified that about 40 girls had been tortured and killed. In fact, Elizabeth killed 612 women -- and in her diary, she documented their deaths. A complete transcript of the trial was made at the time and it survices today in Hungary. Of the people involved in these killings, all but Countess Bathory and the two witches were beheaded and cremated. Due to her nobility, Elizabeth was not allowed by law to be executed. The tow accomplices had their fingers torn out and were burned alive. The court never convicted Countess Elizabeth of any crime, however she was put under house arrest. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in her torture chamber and stonemasons were brought to wall up the windows and doors of the with the Countess inside. They left a small hole through which food could be passed. King Mátyás II demanded the death penalty for Elizabeth but because of her cousin, the prime minister, he agreed to an indefinitely delayed sentence, which really meant solitary confinement for life.

1614: On July 31 Elizabeth (age 54) dictated her last will and testament to two cathedral priests from the Esztergom bishopric. She wished that what remained of her family holdings be divided up equally among her children, her son Paul and his descendants were the basic inheritors though. Late in August of the year 1614 one of the countess's jailers wanted to get a good look at her, since she was still reputedly one of the most beautiful women in Hungary. Peeking through the small aperture in her walled-up cell, he saw her lying face down on the floor. Countess Elizabeth Bathory was dead. Her body was intended to be buried in the church in the town of Cachtice, but the grumbling of local inhabitants found abhorrent the idea of having the "infamous Lady" placed in their town, on hallowed ground no less! Considering this, and the fact that she was "one of the last of the descendants of the Ecsed line of the Bathory family", her body was placed to the northeastern Hungarian town of Ecsed, the original Bathory family seat.

More Information:

  • All records of Elizabeth were sealed for more than a century, and her name was forbidden to be spoken in Hungarian society.
  • Unlike most females of the time, Elizabeth was well educated and her intelligence surpassed even some of the men of her time. Elizabeth was exceptional, becoming "fluent in Hungarian, Latin, and German... when most Hungarian nobles could not even spell or write...Even the ruling prince of Transylvania at the time was barely literate"(20). Some modern scholars and contemporaries of hers postulated that she may have been insane, thus accounting for her seemingly inconceivable atrocities, but even a brief glance into her past reveals a person fully in control of her faculties.
  • Dracula, created by the Irish author Bram Stoker, was based, albeit loosely, on the Romanian Prince, Vlad Dracula, the Impaler. Raymond T. McNally, who has written four books on the figure of Dracula in history, literature, and vampirism, in his fifth book, "Dracula was a Woman," presents insights into the fact that Stoker's Count Dracula was also strongly influenced by the legends of Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary. Why, for example, make a Romanian Prince into a Hungarian Count? Why, if there are no accounts of Vlad Dracula drinking human blood, does blood drinking consume the Dracula of Stoker's novel, who, contrary to established vampire myth, seems to appear younger after doing so? The answers, of course, lie in examining the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
  • It was largely Slovak servants whom Erzsebet killed, so the name "Csejthe" is only spoken in derision, and she is still called "The Hungarian Whore" in the area.

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http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabeth-bathory.htm

Short Biography of the life of Elizabeth Bathory -

Lady Dracula
The following biography information provides basic

facts about the life Elizabeth Bathory:

  • Nationality - Hungarian

  • Nickname: The notorious Elizabeth Bathory

  • is also known as Lady Dracula

  • Lifespan - 1560 - 1614

  • Born: August 7, 1560 in modern-day

  • Slovakia

  • Married: Count Ferencz Nadasdy in 1575

  • Spent her early married life living in the

  • home of her husband - Nadasdy Castle in

  • Sarvar, Hungary

  • Count Ferencz Nadasdy took Elizabeth

  • Bathory's surname when they married

  • giving her the full title of Countess

  • Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy.

  • Lady Dracula's Castle: Count Ferencz

  • Nadasdy gave his wife the Countess

  • Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy Cachtice

  • Castle in modern Slovakia ( then

  • Hungary) together with the adjoining

  • villages

  • Died: Elizabeth Bathory died August 21,

  • 1614

  • Family connections of Elizabeth Bathory

  • - Elizabeth Bathory came from

  • one of the wealthiest families in

  • Transylvania. Father was George/Gyorgy

  • and her mother was Anna Bathory. The

  • brother of Elizabeth’s mother was the

  • Polish king Istvan Bathory (1533-1586)

  • and Elizabeth’s nephew Gabriel Bathory

  • was the ruler of Transylvania

  • Children: Elizabeth Bathory had six

  • children although two children died

  • in infancy. the names of her surviving

  • children were:

    • Anastasia Bathory, born out of

    • wedlock 1574

    • Anna Nadasdy (born c.1585)

    • Katalin (Katherina) Nadasdy

    • (born c.1594)

    • Paul Nadasdy (1598 - 1650)

  • Education - extremely well educated

  • and able to speak several languages

  • Famous for : Countess Elizabeth Bathory

  • Nadasdy ( 1560 - 1614 ) is famous as

  • a real historical figure who was reputed

  • to have not only drunk but bathed

  • in the blood of young virgin girls she

  • murdered in order to retain her youth

  • Character of Elizabeth Bathory :

  • Intelligent,

  • ruthless, vain, cruel and sadistic -

  • probably mentally unstable

Short Biography, Facts & History

about the life of Elizabeth Bathory -

Lady Dracula
The following are additional facts

about the bio, life and history of Elizabeth
Bathory:
Legend has it that Countess Elizabeth Bathory
Nadasdy discovered her "secret of eternal
youth" when some spots of blood from a

beaten servant seemed to 'tighten' her skin.
She became obsessed with this notion which
gave her a perfect excuse to vent her
sadistic streak on local teenage peasant
women. Countess Elizabeth Bathory
Nadasdy was known to torture her
victims before bathing in their blood. Her

instruments of torture included knives,
pincers, needles, razors, red-hot irons
and pokers. She is also reputed to
have ordered the construction of
an iron cage called "Iron Virgin".
The "Iron Virgin" was shaped like
a woman and fitted with blades,
similar to the "Iron Maiden".
Countess Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy
was believed to have been responsible
for the deaths of over 600 peasant women.
She was aided in her crimes by servants
including Dorka Szentes, Iloona Joo,
Johannes Ujuvary, Anna Darvulia and
Damien Thorko. So many complaints
were made about the Countess that
King Mathias of Hungary sent cousin,
Lord Palatine George Thurzo to question
her. Her accomplices were sentenced to
death but Elizabeth's involvement was
'hushed-up' due her her royal connections.
She was quietly left to die in her own castle.
The windows and doors of her room were
sealed by workmen were sealed leaving just
a small hath to pass food to her.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy
( Lady Dracula ) died three and a half years later.

Parallels between
Elizabeth Bathory and Dracula

Parallels have been made between Countess
Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy and Vlad
Dracul (Prince Vlad IV) also called
Vlad Dracula
meaning Son of the Devil.
Vlad Dracul (1431 - 1476) a was also
known by the nickname Vlad the Impaler
after impaling his enemies on stakes as a
cruel and vicious form of torture and
execution. Bram Stoker wrote the famous
fictional book he called Dracula which
was inspired by the Middle Ages prince
from Transylvania who had a lust for
blood. There is speculation that Bram
Stoker
also used the stories about Countess
Elizabeth Bathory Nadasdy when writing
his book. Prince Vlad IV and Elizabeth
Bathory both lived in Transylvania
and had a real lust for blood - there are
several other similarities between these
two historical figures...

Famous Elizabethans - Elizabeth
Bathory - Lady Dracula

Some interesting facts and biography information
about the History, Life & Times of Elizabeth Bathory.
Additional details, facts, history and information
about the famous Elizabethans and events
in Elizabethan Times can be accessed via the
Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

http://bathory.org/

http://bathory.org/erzsgall.html

http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/bathory_pix_page.html