Sunday, March 16, 2014

What happened to Malaysian Airlines 370?

The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines 370 has been one of the biggest aviation mysteries to date.
Not a single verifiable clue has been left to pin point its current location. The Malaysian authorities have made matters worse by releasing contradictory information which has left the search and rescue teams no closer to their goal of finding where the plane is at.

The internet has been rife with all kinds of conspiracy and crazy theories about the plane. Let us look at some of these theories because sometimes the facts are stranger than fiction!
Please take all of these with a grain of salt.

Pic courtesy: Daily mail
           

1. The plane was hijacked and diverted elsewhere.
The two pilots of the plane have been under scrutiny now. The main pilot was an aviation buff and also built his own flight simulator at home. But he was described as a man of duty and integrity by his friends and peers. The co pilot did raise some eye brows when an Australian lady said that this pilot had invited her and her friends into the cockpit on an earlier flight. We also know that in the past, pilots have been known to crash their plane intentionally.

Then there is also the mystery of the stolen passports. Two Iranian men were in possession of these passports but they did not seem to have any links with terror organizations. 
If the plane was indeed diverted by either the pilots or some passengers, why was it done?

a. The plane was crashed into the water.
The pilots could have crashed the plane into the Indian ocean or the hijackers must have done it. Also a scuffle inside the cockpit could have led to the plane losing control and plunging into the deep Indian ocean. 

b. A 9/11 styled attack went bad.
Based on the last know trajectory, the plane could have either headed towards India or some other country. What if the plane was meant to hit some building or target in a 9/11 style attack. But due to either an accident or scuffle, perhaps the plane crashed into the ocean.

c. The plane landed in a remote island and will be used for a future attack?
TV shows like "Lost" and "Arrow" are based on remote islands where survivors live for years together without anybody rescuing them. Could the plane have been captured by a terror gang or a rich warlord. 
A remote island in the Indian Ocean could have been used to build a quick runway for the plane. They could also have built camouflaged hangars to keep the plane hidden. Perhaps for a future attack or some nefarious purpose. 
Who could have done this? Terror Groups, Rogue governments like North Korea etc.

2.  The plane went into another dimension/ abducted by aliens
Lot of conspiracy theorists believe that sometimes there could be portals that lead to other dimensions or planes of existence. Could such portals or wormholes exist? Perhaps it was a coincidence that one portal opened up when the plane was passing over that area.

Further more, was such a portal created by a top secret military experiment by countries such as USA or China? 

Or what if Aliens had something to do with this? A huge Boeing 777 has gone missing without a trace. Who else could pull this feat off if not for highly intelligent extra terrestrials?

3. The plane was involved in an experiment to test cloaking. 
If you have watched "Star Wars", you know what I am talking about. A"cloaking device" renders a spacecraft invisible. This is also depicted in the movie "The Avengers". An Austin based company called "Freescale Semiconductor" had about 20 employees on this plane. Some conspiracy theorists are already taking about some kind of radar evading technology that could have been used here.  

4. Supernatural?
Many relatives have mentioned that they could call their loved one's cellphones and heard them ringing. Some even mentioned that the passengers were online on Chinese chat messengers. Did something out of the paranormal capture this aircraft?

These are some of the theories. As of today (16th March 2014), we still have no real clue as to what happened to flight MH370. Remember we are dealing with the potential loss of 240 lives on this aircraft. Their families and loved ones are current going through hell as there has not been any closure of any kind. 
These theories apart, I wish and pray that we hear some good news about the plane. After all miracles do happen. 

Monday, March 11, 2013

Haunted places/Ghosts of Bangalore - 1 : Haunted House in St Mark's Road

Friends,

I am back after a break of 1 year. I have plans of writing about quite a few awesome supernatural topics so please stay tuned.

Bangalore is one of India's most distinctive cities. Its status as a IT powerhouse has attracted people from all over the country. Bangalore also has a great amount of history attached to it. Since its founding by KempeGowda to the time of Tippu Sultan, going forward to its use as a military cantonment by the British to being chosen as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore has seen a lot.  It is no wonder then that Bangalore also has a few haunted places and legends about ghosts.

Let us examine one of them today.

1. Haunted house / mansion in St Marks Rd: Most old timers in the city would name this among their list of haunted places. The funny thing is I have walked past this place like a million times when I was in Bangalore. I did my high school (or PUC) a t St Joseph's College and I walked past this house at least twice a day on my way to Brigade Road to enjoy the sights :)..Thought I did hear some rumors I find it strange now that I was not that curious about it back then. But I always did get a weird feeling when walking past it. Some places just give out that eerie feeling. But was it really haunted back then in 2001 or was this a more recent occurence? Read below and find out.

It is still fresh in my memories. The dilapidated state of the house along with that run down car just sitting there gathering dust over the years. The whole place is in decay and I haven't been there for quite a few years now. Maybe those of you in Bangalore can actually post newer pics or maybe you will tell me that this house was broken down and remodeled long ago.

 Pic credit: http://tonymon7287.blogspot.com/2010/10/haunted-house-on-stmarks-road.html


Anyways here is the legend about it.

The house belonged to two Anglo Indian sisters who were spinsters, Vera Vaz and Dolce Vaz. Dolce Vaz was murdered in this house by an unknown assailant in front of her sister. The legend then continues that the lady was buried in this house. She was 75 when she was killed and her sister was 80. The killer was never caught. The house was then deserted because nobody wants to live in a house like that. And the place was soon deemed haunted.

People claimed to see things, hear noises. A bunch of folks even went in and were attacked by a supernatural force.

But the reality is this murder happened fairly recently. 2002 in fact. The Times of India actually reported the murder.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-09-04/bangalore/27320795_1_elderly-woman-murderer-stab

So all those times when I walked past this place when I was in college (1999-2001), it was actually not deserted. However I have been walking past this house after the murder in 2002 and it still did not make much of a difference to me. The place was just as eerie and rundown before Dolce's murder.

In any case, the strange thing is that there are some articles like statues, furniture and other stuff lying around in the house but nobody has had the courage to go steal them. From time to time, so called ghost hunters (actually groups of students with no better work to do) go here and post about their "experiences".
This one takes the cake.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=1&contentid=20100410201004100502474912279e776

So what do you think? Is this place really haunted? Or are we witnessing the creation of a ghostly legend that over the next few years will grow to be more frightening.

If you happen to be in Bangalore, please do visit it and let me know. I would appreciate newer pictures of this place.

Footnote: After this murder, the house and its property is under litigation. It can be assumed that poor Dolce was a victim of murder. But with this haunted legend gaining steam, I wonder who would dare to come forward and buy this property. I think builders are one of the most superstitious folks out there. Would you like to buy this place?

PLEASE READ OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS BLOG IF YOU LIKED THIS.

Read about my ghostly experience in Mangalore here


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Ghostly experiences - 1

Dear readers, I have decided to post some real life experiences of mine as well as those which were reocunted by friends. Most of these incidents are from India. I will not claim them to be the absolute truth. But they do make you think about the unseen world. 

By the way, I myself am not fully convinced about the existence of Ghosts in the manner that we are thought to believe. Are these simply a spiritual reenactment or are these really the souls of the dead? Or are these just demons or evil spirits? My research so far has led me to tilt to the last possibility but all of us should understand things and make our opinions for ourself.

This incident is an incident of mine. It happened nearly 12 years ago in the South Indian coastal city of Mangalore. 


A bunch of relatives including my uncles, aunts and cousins had converged at Mangalore; where our grandparents lived. The house was actually in a town called Surathkal. It was a large house surrounding by a nice garden on all four sides. It was a good reunion and all of us had a great time just catching up with each other and hanging out doing the routine family bonding stuff. 


The middle portion of the house acted as the living quarters. A small guest bedroom facing this west side and a bigger master bedroom in the middle. Most of us used to sleep in the middle bedroom while one aunt slept in the guest bedroom. There was a single bed there and above it was a window. That window faced out to a paddy field which was a little far away from our house and in the midst of that field was a very old temple and locals used to speak in hushed tones about strange things happening there and that one should never venture out at late hours in the night around those parts. 

The "cursed" window from outside(Pic taken in 2006).

The paddy field and temple(Pic taken in 2006).




One of those nights was exceptionally hot and humid, Mangalore being a coastal city. At some point during the night, my aunt let out a terrifying scream. Most of us woke up, some went to see her. I was pretty tired that night, having spent most of my time in the day near the railway tracks that were being laid nearby. That went on to be part of the "Konkan railway" project. 


Anyway, in the morning the facts were clear as to why my aunt supposedly screamed. She was sleeping on that bed on her back. She had kept the window open because it was hot. The window would have been just inches above her next region and she could even see outside to some extent. According to her, at some point during the night (around 2 am)
she woke up feeling uncomfortable. As she opened her eyes, she saw a woman standing right outside the window and staring sternly at her. She was terrified and rightly so..Who would'nt?



Just writing this gives me the chills. She was frozen for a moment and then gathered all of her energy to let out that scream which woke most of us. She had closed her eyes and by the time she had opened them, that woman was gone. Listening to this, I was scared out of my wits. For the next few nights nobody slept there. That window was shut tight. 


My grandmother made light of the issue. But something told me that she was perhaps hiding something from us. From the time I used to visit that place, I always felt the chills even walking around that place after 7 PM. 

In 2008, when I visited my grandmother I had to sleep in that room. I did not have the guts to sleep on my back nor open that window. It did help as the glass on the window was opaque and also the curtains were closed. I slept on my stomach and inside the bed sheet. 
Needless to say, I was praying till I fell asleep.


Exactly what was it that my aunt saw that night?Was it a ghost/evil spirit trying to warn us about something? Or was it her imagination? Why did I feel restless and fearful in that room and generally about that side of the house? Psychological or truly supernatural. I don't know yet but I do hope to find out some day. 


All text copyright © 2011 Calvin.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Alien sighted in Brazilian forest?

From the Huffington Post.

An extraterrestrial is seen in a Brazilian rainforest and arches its back conveniently right in front of a group of children being filmed.
Well, we've seen stranger things, but this is just the latest in a series of videos all coincidentally presented on the Internet by Mike Cohen of All News Web, which bills itself as "the world's only inter-galactic daily news service."
So, why would anybody doubt this video, reportedly taken by a couple of unnamed British tourists in the Amazon jungle?
"It's an example of a found artifact, where you look at a video and see something that's not necessarily there, like seeing animals in the clouds," suggested Marc Dantonio, chief photo and video analyst for the Mutual UFO Network, the largest privately funded UFO research organization in the world.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Different types of ghosts in India - Part 2

Dear readers, here is part-2 of the different types of ghosts in India. I will soon begin explaining them in more details.

Part -1 (one of the most viewed post in this blog) can be found here.

Pretas are the roaming ghosts of Hindu men who died by violence and whose corpses were disposed of "unceremoniously."

Mumiai is a Indian poltergeist that invades homes throughout Bombay.

Virikas are small spirits that appear surrounded by a reddish mist and make guttural sounds.

Bhoot - A Common Ghost and a departed ancestor (who has not become a ghost) are on the same level with regards to their spiritual strength. The main difference is that a departed ancestor troubles his descendants making use of his give and take account with them, while a ghost troubles any human being, using its black energy regardless of them being their descendants.

Hadal(Female Goblin) - They have a strong odour around them, like that of a rotten egg.
Generally, they affect the person without possessing him or her, i.e. they do not enter the body of an individual.Their main job is to provide material required for doing black magic, for example bones, skulls etc. to the sorcerers (māntriks) for their rituals, by digging out bodies in the cemetery.

Penchapechi (found in Bengal): An unusual form of ghost, the Penchapechi take the form of owls and hunt in the Bengali forests. The ghost follows hapless travelers through the woods until they are completely alone before it strikes. Unlike other ghosts, the Penchapechi actually consumes its victims, feeding on their body in an almost vampiric way.

Chetkin(Witch): A foul smell is associated with the presence of Witches (Chetkins).People possessed by Witches (Chetkins) when manifest laugh continuously.They are skilled in assuming various forms.They enter a person's body and cause accidents. They then take control of subtle bodies of these people to get them to work for them. They also train them in performing rituals to harness black energy.They are capable of taking complete control of a house and can then devastate the entire family living there.

 

Banamati (Indian witch craft) incident from 2005

 A chilling account of this witchcraft practice from India which occurred in 2005.


A six-year-old girl was kidnapped, skinned alive and then beheaded.

GULBARGA: Salitha, six-year-old daughter of a Dalit couple at Khajuri village in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district, has become the latest victim of the bizarre rituals of the practitioners of Banamati, a form of black magic practised in this region. 

Study team
A team from two social organisations, Bharata Jyana Vigyan Samiti and Samudaya, that visited the village to study the mysterious death of Salitha a couple of days ago has come out with details of how the girl was done to death after being kidnapped allegedly by the henchmen of the practitioners of Banamati.
The members of the team included president of the samiti K. Lingappa, its secretary Shivasharana Malegaon, president of Samudaya Shankarayya Ghanti and its secretary Srishail Gooli.
They told presspersons here on Wednesday that Salita, who was kidnapped on November 6, was killed by Banamati practioners. 

Head not recovered
Mr. Gooli said the police were yet to recover the head of Salita.
The torso was recovered from an agricultural field on the outskirts of Khajuri village on November 10.
Inspection of the decomposed body revealed that the culprits had first cut her little finger on her right hand, removed her skin from the shoulder to the hip even as was alive and then beheaded her, Mr. Gooli said.
Later, the killers cut the right hip, thigh bone and right arm before leaving the body to rot in the field, Mr. Gooli pointed out. 

Rituals
It is said that Banamati practioners use the bones, the little finger of the victim and the head of the victim in the night long rituals in secluded spots. Salita, who was born at an auspicious time on a Sunday six years ago, was kidnapped on a Sunday. 

Third victim
Mr. Gooli said Salita was the third girl to fall victim to Banamati rituals in the district in the past one year and the police despite having evidence of the large presence of Banamati practioners and their henchmen have not acted against them.
Last year, a girl was murdered at Honnakiranagi in Gulbarga taluk, and in April this year another young girl died in a mysterious fire accident at Mantigi village, which is just 8 km away from Khajuri village. While the police arrested a few persons in the Honnakiranagi case, all those arrested were released on bail. In the Mantigi case, the police belatedly booked a case of murder after the samiti and Samudaya built up pressure on them and the incident gained publicity after it appeared in newspapers. 

Accused yet to be arrested
However, Shivamma, the main accused in the case, is yet to be arrested.
The police have also not registered a case against Pujar, who is allegedly the main conspirator in the Mantigi case.
Even in the case of death of Salita, the police initially did not book a missing person's case when the parents approached them. 

`Police indifferent'
The samiti and Samudaya members said the indifferent attitude of the police in dealing with the Banamati menace had emboldened its practitioners.
They said the police should immediately act against those practising Banamati in the district.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

UFO sighted over Australia? One of the best UFO videos ever!

I got this from a Canadian newspaper reporting about a UFO sighting in Australia.
The video taken shows a UFO over the skies of Adelaide and it has pulsating lights unlike any aircraft that we know of. The video itself is pretty good and can make most skeptics think twice.



 http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/news/ufo_extraterrestrials/2011/07/30/319.html
Without much doubt this viral UFO sighting is one of the better pieces of UFO video evidence that has been captured on video.

On December 7th 2010 a massive thunderstorm was fast approaching the city of Adelaide, South Australia. Hearing the weather forecast and seeing the thunderclouds beginning to scatter across the sky, the UFO eyewitness decided to set up their tripod to capture some lightning footage. Only a minute later, to their surprise a strange flying object appeared in the sky.

At first the eyewitness thought that the object may have been an aeroplane until they noticed that the object had no wings and then realised that the object's flashing lights did not have the resemblance of pulselites. According to the eyewitness, the back-and-forth pendulum swing of the object's lights became very vivid, and then the colour of the lights even seemed to change. As is visible towards the end of this UFO capture, the eye witness also makes mention of the craft's very close proximity to the nearby lightning, recalling lightning leap vertically into the sky only a short distance away.

On December 29th 2010, the Australian media (having witnessed the substantial growth in interest surrounding this UFO footage) released a newspaper article about this video. The feature article describes the strange capture and the widely varying opinions of sceptics and believers. The article also mentions that the Adelaide Airport General Manager of Corporate Affairs had commented that "Pulselite units were used on aircrafts flying over Adelaide." This is no doubt a strong indication that someone went to great lengths to seek a senior opinion on the subject of aviation (in direct response to this video).

Is this just another hoax or could it be true? What are your thoughts on this sighting?

Another Australian newspaper seemed to give a rational explanation...A new kind of lighting system called "Pulselight" to keep birds from striking the aircraft.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/the-truth-is-out-there-and-here/story-fn6bqphm-1225978305535

One non-believer offered an explanation to the December 7 UFO sighting, posted by FluffyJet Productions.
The non-believer posted a video last week of a Pulselite unit being used on a plane and said such warning devices are now used on some planes landing in Adelaide to avoid bird strikes.
Adelaide Airport general manager of corporate affairs John McArdle said Pulselite units were used on aircraft flying over Adelaide.
Mystery solved?

So UFO or new aircraft lighting system? You decide..The truth is out there!!!