Levelland UFO sightings.

The Levelland UFO case is known as one of the most impressive simply due to the large number of witnesses to the same events, although of course it was discounted by the US Airforce and skeptics as 'ball lightening' among other things.

It began on November 2nd and 3rd 1957 at Levelland Texas when two farm workers called the police to report a UFO sighting. Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz said they had been driving west of Levelland and had seen a blue flash near the side of the road, their truck's engine died and they told of seeing a rocket shaped object rise up into the air and flew over them. Once it had passed, the truck started up again. This report was dismissed immediately, but then an hour later Jim Wheeler rang to report an egg-shaped object, brightly lit which was about 200 feet long, which was sitting on the road. Similarly his car engine had died and the craft flew off when he got out of his vehicle to approach it, once gone his car kicked back into life.

The accounts kept coming, including;
10.55pm a couple reported a bright light moving across the sky, their car lights and radio failed for a few seconds during the sighting.
Joze Alvarez reported his car dying when he came across a large object on the road, once it had gone the car was fine.
12.05am a student called to report his car struggling and eventually dying before he saw a large egg-shaped object in the road, it flew away and his car came back to life instantly.
12.15 Frank Williams called to report a sighting along with his car cutting out until the object had left.
12.45 Ronald Martin called.
1.15 James Long rang with his report stating the same as those beforehand.

By the end of the night, 15 people had reported incredibly similar accounts, the Sheriff and the Fire Chief also saw unexplainable things of a similar nature.

Apparently, according to ufologists, there were no electrical storms in the area that night as mentioned in Project Blue Book, and the airforce did not interview 9 of the witnesses.
Fascinating stuff!

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelland_UFO_case
https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/levelland-ufo.htm

Gorleston-on-Sea Black Dog

While on duty at the rescue headquarters on the 19th April 1972, Graham Grant is said to have watched a very large black dog running on the sand, it would stop every so often to look around, then before his eyes vanished in the middle of the beach!

There are lots of books about Norfolk Folklore, here's a good place to start:

Doom Bar.

Doom Bar - a very nice bitter with a background in folklore.

On this day, November 19th in 1911, The Doom Bar in Cornwall claimed two ships, the Island Maid and the Angele, for the latter the entire crew was killed except the captain.

The Doom Bar is a notorious sandbar in Cornwall where the River Camel meets the Celtic sea, and it has posed a danger to shipping for centuries being responsible for over 600 beachings and wrecks since records began in the early nineteenth century, large boats trying to enter Padstow were often given assistance, sometimes by air to guide them in safely. The Doom Bar is now regularly dredged to keep access to Padstow clearer, but it is an endless task as the sediments accumulate rapidly.

Folklore tells us that a mermaid created the bar as a dying curse on the harbour after she was shot by a local man. Tristram Bird (who had bought a new gun) went out to find seals to practice his aim on, but when he saw the mermaid sitting on a rock brushing her hair he was entranced, he wanted her to marry him, but when she declined he shot her, realising after the event that she was in fact a mermaid. She sadly died and cursed the place with a 'bar of doom'. A bad storm raged that night, and when morning came, the sandbar was there, 'covered with wrecks of ships and drowned men'.

The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor Legend.

The ‘Hairy Hands’ are a unique legend to Dartmoor in England, and to quite a specific area at that. Only dating from the 1920’s, the stretch of road between Postbridge and the Two Bridges area has been the scene of a number of unexplainable accidents involving motor vehicles and people of authority in the majority of cases.

The area of the moors that the hairy hands manifest at is very ancient, it was a densely populated spot during prehistoric times and theories have suggested that the legend comes from elemental forces that have lingered at the site since then. Spirits, myths and superstitions are linked to many areas of Dartmoor, but not many are blamed for so many deaths and accidents, especially in such recent, modern day times.

One of the most well-known reports is of a Doctor who was riding his motorcycle with sidecar, the vehicle crashed and he was killed at the scene, however his two sons travelling in the sidecar survived, they gave an account that the vehicle was forced from the road by a pair of hairy hands that took control of the handlebars, resulting in the accident. Shortly afterwards, a similar thing happened to an Army officer, he survived his accident but reported the same thing.

Some less severe, but equally inexplicable events were to follow some years later. A couple were sleeping in their caravan near the stretch of road, the woman awoke to see a hairy hand clawing at the window, shocked, she made the sign of the cross and said it simply disappeared. Also a doctor’s car stopped dead on the road at the same spot with no apparent mechanical problems, he was not hurt, but was puzzled by the legend. Yet another doctor survived an incident in 1979 when his car was forced into a ditch by a ‘powerful force’ that took over control of the vehicle.

Another recent occurrence involved a young man in the early 1960’s. He was travelling from Plymouth to Chagford but did not reach his destination. He was found dead underneath his upturned car on the same stretch of road. The car and his body were both examined and no conclusion could be drawn for the cause of death or the accident.

Many people travelling through the area, either on foot, cycling or in a vehicle have told of a sense of malaise or even fear, even if they did not previously know of the hairy hands legend. This could simply be due to the barren, desolate nature of the moors, especially at certain times of year, or maybe there is more to the eerie history relating to it. A Bronze Age burial kist can still be seen at the site today giving a link back to those who once lived there.

There do not seem to be any very recent accounts of the hairy hands causing more trouble along the road from Postbridge to Two Bridges, maybe they have stopped manifesting, or perhaps people are less keen to report incidents due to the fear of ridicule. Either way, no news is good news, but caution should probably be observed.

Fortean evening ahead.

Tonight is Fortean Times night in my house, it arrived yesterday, and I should have time to read it through later, always fascinating!