It is time once again to look into the bizarre and unexplained (and if any of you dear readers do explain them keep it to yourself and don’t ruin it for the rest of the class). Let us at the House of Geekery give you another look into the unknown and the paranormal with 5 Creepy Unexplained Mysteries Part 4. If you missed the previous entries feel free to look them up here, here, and here.
5. Boleskine House: When of the most feared and renowned masters of magic and the occult purchases a home on a body of water, most known to be home of an aquatic monster, you know things are going to get scary. Such was the case when the man labelled by many, “the wickedest man in the world”, Aleister Crowley retreated to the mansion known as, Boleksin House in Loch Ness. Fittingly the manor provides a nice view of the monster infested waters, while still being in close proximity to a cemetery. With the exception of a few others, Crowley was alone to embark on the elaborate ritual Abramelin in order to contact spiritual beings from another realm. According to the warlock’s own writings, things spun out of control as entities from the other side began pouring into the house and tormenting those who resided there. A maid was driven to madness during this time, and one of the chefs who happened to stumble upon and read one of Crowley’s spells sliced off his own hand with a meat cleaver. Because he had a whole host of negative monikers to live up, Aleister Crowley did not perform any banishing spells before leaving the house, which has lead tales of ghosts and demons haunting the halls of Boleskine House, as well as tales of underground tunnels which lead to the cemetery close by. The current owner of this property is rock legend and fellow occult enthusiast, Jimmy Page, one can not help but wonder if he has any intriguing tales about the house which Crowley once called home. Speaking of Loch Ness….
4. Champ:…Well more accurately the creature known as the American Loch Ness Monster, who resides in the cold, deep waters of Lake Champlain, known to cryptozoologists as, Champ. Before European settlers arrived in the area, the American Indian tribes who resided in the region told tales of a large monster who called Champlain home. But the Europeans did not waste any time seeing this mysterious creature as the explorer Samuel de Champlain reported seeing an animal in the lake which he could not explain. Many have come up with logical explanations as to identity of the animal he saw, but several years later a seasoned sailor, Captain Crum also saw a creature in the waters which he claimed was several feet long and had a horse like head. In the 1900s sightings of the monster known as Champ began to pick up, culminating with the only credible picture ever taken of the aquatic animal in 1977 by Sandra Mansi who saw it with her family.
3. Axeman of New Orleans: Everyone who has an interest in the macabre knows about the letters Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac sent to taunt investigators, but not nearly as many know of another letter writing killer, who preyed on the Big Easy in the early twentieth century. In 1918, police in New Orleans discovered an entire family had been hacked to death over the course of a single night with an axe, this horrific crime was set to be the beginning of a serial killer’s reign of terror over the city. Throughout the rest of the year more victims filled the morgue of New Orleans and law enforcement was no closer to discovering the identity of the axe wielding killer, except that he was possibly connected to a series of similar murders ten years before. In 1919 a letter was published in the local papers allegedly written by the killer; in a patronizing tone he claimed responsibility for the murders and professed to have a fondness for jazz. He issued a warning to the citizens of the city, claiming that anyone who did not share in his love for this particular genre of music was fair game. In the months that followed jazzy tunes blared every night from the homes of those who did not wish to fall prey to this mad man. For several months this strategy worked but later that years, the axe fell again claiming a new group of victims. In October a local grocer, along with his wife and children were final victims of the Axeman of New Orleans as he apparently hung up his weapon for good. To this day the identity of this serial killer remains a mystery to law enforcement, meaning we may never know who it was who cast such an ominous shadow on the city.
2. Toynbee Tiles: Most of us do not even pay attention to the ground we walk on, but there are those who do and all over the world those people have spotted one of the great urban mysteries of our time. In 1992 a man in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania began to notice tiles in the ground around the city, all of them communicating the same mysterious message, “TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUbricK’s 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER”. Research into the tiles uncovered the fact that they have popped up in major cities all over the world with the same message. Many theorize that the tiles are referring to famed British religious figure Arnold J. Toynbee, who wrote of a man named Zoroaster, who’s name also appears in the piece of music “Thus Spoke Zoroaster” which was used in Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. Due to the similarities in the construction of the tiles most believe that they are the work of a single person trying to communicate a strange message to the rest of us. One investigator drew a connection between the message on the tiles and the writings of a gentleman named, James Morasco who claimed that we could send our dead to Jupiter for resurrection. Strangely Morasco had become a recluse in the later years of his life refusing to talk with others. Despite suspicions the tiles continue to appear despite Morasco having passed away in 2003, ;eaving us to wonder if he had any connection to the tiles.
1. JFK 911 Call: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy has been a fertile ground for conspiracy theories and strange tales. But one of the strangest aspects of this presidential assassination is one that is often overlooked. On November 22, 1963, a switchboard operator in California recieved the strangest phone call of her career. It was a warning that President John F. Kennedy was going to die at 10:30 that morning in Dallas. The woman who called ranted about a few more topics before disconnecting, but it was a prophetic warning of President Kennedy’s fate which stuck out. History tells us how the rest of the story unfolds, and provides us with even more mysteries concerning that fateful day. But the strangest part of the ordeal was that the only reason Kennedy happened to be at Dealey Plaza at 10:30 was because he was running late. The identity of the caller has never been found out; ideas have been thrown around concerning a government plot or time travel, but to this day nobody knows.
