News from 10/16/2018: Episode #372

I don't normally write a blog for the news but with this week's news I shared a few photographs in the chatroom during the live broadcast on the Paranormal King Radio Network. I thought it would be nice to share these photographs with everyone via the blog instead of just sharing the stories through Facebook and Twitter like usual. Something new, but not sure if I will continue this or not.

I was one of four speakers on October 13 at the Albatwitch Day event in Columbia, Pennsylvania. I had a great time there enjoyed the presentations of local author David Glass, Tim Renner, and Rick Fisher. If you're interested in attending a paranormal conference (ghosts, UFOs, or crytids) then check out my list of events on Paranewsinsider.com.

Cryptid News:

Just seconds before the 4' gator lunged at a deputy.

Last week I covered a story from Chicago where a live alligator was pulled from the waters of Lake Michigan. Well, later on in the week another alligator was discovered but this time nowhere near the Great Lakes. A driver in a town about 20 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas was initially startled when she saw an alligator walk out in front of her car a week ago Monday, October 8th. Deputies had a hard time wrangling the alligator as the four-foot-long reptile lunged at one of them and he pulled his gun. Shots were not fired but the alligator was not captured either. The gator ended up getting back home on its own as it had been an escapee from a nearby residence.

Even more strange is that the same day as this one and not only the one in Chicago, Illinois, but another alligator turned up in Kansas about 20 miles south of the first one. This alligator was about 2 feet long and was found hiding under someone’s car. The city of Olathe, Kansas, where this second alligator was found apparently has a law against owning them so it will be transported to a reptile rescue facility in Kansas.

A set of photographs have surfaced of a mysterious creature seen in the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach, California. The headline of the Daily Star made this sound like very scary situation as it said, “Mysterious 'human-like' sea creature lurking in water leave beachgoers TERRIFIED. A BIZARRE creature sparked terror on the shores after beachgoers failed to identify what was heading their way.”

Despite the description in many stories saying there is a video there are only a few photographs including one that is just water that were taken back on October 3rd by a man only identified as George. I'm not sure who else was there that was terrified. George states of his encounter, “I was sitting on the sand and saw a frenzy of fish. Water was splashing, and the fish were jumping out – so I went to take a photo and caught this. I've been a surfer all my life and have never seen anything like this before.”

Sure looks like a dolphin to me...

Many people (paranormal researchers especially) assume that just because they can’t explain it that means that no one else can either and therefore it must be paranormal. Within the comments section of the video many claim that they recognize this creature as an orca or as dolphin which is in my best guess as well. I would probably guess this would be a dolphin as an orca’s dorsal fin would be much taller than what we see in the one photograph. But, it sure does look like a dolphin to me!

In the last few years Huntington Beach has had issues with sharks and stingrays chasing fish close to shore causing panic and a few minor injuries and dolphins are frequently seen in the area- and any longtime surfer would know that.

UFO News:

Cruz del Tercer Milenio (Third Millennium Cross)

“Mysterious UFOs in shape of white orbs of light 'speed across sky' at South America's highest monument” is the headline that accompanies the latest purported UFO video. The video was shot through observation windows at the Cruz del Tercer Milenio (Third Millennium Cross) which is located in northern Chile and stands about 83 meters high or 272 feet if you’re from North America.

This astounding UFO should have been reported by thousands of people and there should be dozens of videos of this amazing object as hundreds visit this monument daily and the countryside would have been busy with people. But, where are the other videos?

The reason there are no other videos is that this one isn’t really a UFO and it’s not even a good fake. Of the two comments on the Mirror article that I saw earlier this evening both pointed to the fact that this was shot inside behind glass and that there was a light on either the camera of the phone or other device behind the phone. I find it very hard to believe that the person filming this did not realize it at the time.

Some might watch the video and wonder why the first light seen did not move as the camera did in the last shot. Well, the video opens looking out one window from a few feet away from it (1). As the person turns and moves quickly toward the other window you can clearly see the light reflected on the wall (2) and when it appears on the window the light gets closer to the camera (3 then 4) since it’s actually the camera getting closer to the window. Case closed.

Is the To The Stars Academy in debt to the moon? The To The Stars Academy became the target of a misleading article on Monday, October 15th. The article claimed that the company is a whopping $37.4 Million dollars in debt. Tom DeLonge of the musical group Blink 182 fame has been under fire for a number of things that the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences has done over the past few years, but this attacked them where it hurts- the wallet.

DeLonge fired back via a now removed Instagram post which read in part, “This article is highly misleading and grossly mischaracterizes statements in an SEC filing. Mr. Berger apparently did not EVEN READ the filing in its entirety, and clearly did not understand the excerpt of the SEC filing he quotes.” DeLonge also commented that the writer of the article did not contact him for clarification of the information that was published. He clarified the findings by stating, “The approximate $37 million stockholders’ deficit is NOT DEBT as he characterized it but is attributable to stock-based compensation expense.”

What this essentially means is that the $37.4 Million dollars is not debt as in borrowed money but is a deficit which is basically spending more money that you are taking in. So, unless the TTSA can bring in some more revenue they will certainly be in debt when they eventually have to pay some bills. According to an article in Motherboard.vice.com, “In September 2017, the company began selling $50 million worth of stock to fund its operations, and its website claims to have a total of 2,547 investors. According to the SEC filing, however, To the Stars has only sold a little over $1 million worth of stock to date.” So, no matter how they try to spin this the information is far from positive when it comes to the future of the company. Also mentioned in the article is how DeLonge and others get royalties in excess of $100,000 each no matter what results the company has.

While many view the TTSA as the leader in discovering evidence of UFOs and pushing disclosure to the governments of the world while others see this as nothing more than a money making scheme that has lacked in providing anything credible. Some point to the video that accompanied the Acquisition and Data Analysis of Materials (ADAM) project where it showed team members unwrapping purported pieces of UFOs and other evidence with their bare hands. If this were truly physical evidence of UFOs one would think a company designed for discovery would have taken some sort of precaution. This is symbolic to this latest story and I wonder if this is just the crack in the wall that eventually leads to the collapse of this venture.

Other News:

I’m pretty sure there is a logical solution to this, but until then it’s a story about a strange object washed ashore on Seabrook Island in South Carolina. The story has quickly picked up a lot of buzz and has become one of the stronger viral paranormal stories of the year so far.

The large object has been speculated to be everything from a UFO to space junk all the way to just a buoy or some other logical but boring solution. Many websites are focusing on the fact that it was taken away by city officials and some are saying this means it is some sort of alien technology or something else that is a secret. 

Not sure about this guy's face, but this sure looks like the object in question.

But, the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network was the first to report this object and has since allowed hundreds of people to join in the guessing as to what it could possibly be. City officials did take the object away, but it was just due to public safety as well as to identify what it is. It wouldn’t be very good to allow this object to reenter the water and eventually was up somewhere else.

The speculation about what the object might be is all over the place, again from a UFO to even parts from the Space Shuttle Challenger by more than one person. Mysterious, yes, but the object seems to be made of foam and the many guesses as a buoy or other object used to float or protect boats is probably correct. One of the most guessed objects is a pipeline. Strange objects like this wash up on the shore all the time and even in this particular area it is said to be a somewhat consistent thing.

The Paranormal News Insider has been broadcasting since September of 2008 with 372 episodes to date and can be heard live at Paranormalking.com at 8 PM eastern every Tuesday night. The show is also available as a podcast after that on Podbean, iTunes, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spreaker, as well as many other podcasting apps and websites as well as on YouTube.  

Let the "silly season" begin!

When I first started out in the paranormal back in 1996 there were very few people that I was friends with that I told I investigated ghosts. Many in my family had no idea I was into such a thing and I even hid this interest from a girlfriend as much as possible back then as well. Over the years the paranormal has become mainstream and those of us that make our rounds at paranormal conventions or libraries have become in demand. Those strange paranormal people have now become "rock stars" and everyone wants to know about what we do. While many of us do this all year round October seems to be the popular time of year when libraries and other mainstream sources want to hear what we do since it coexists with the time of the year with Halloween.

For the first time since I began speaking yearly at public events I will only talk about cryptids this year. My first stop for the "fall tour" will be at the Floyd E. Younkin Branch of the Pickaway County Library located in Ashville, Ohio on Sunday, September 30th from 2-4 PM. I had done a similar event at the main branch earlier in the year but have customized this presentation just for this appearance as I normally try to do. The focus here will be the basics of cryptozoology as the well as the most popular creatures and will then focus on Ohio based cryptids.

My second stop will be the following weekend, October 5-6, 2018, at the Un-Con XII (Unconventional) in Piqua, Ohio, discussing cryptozoology as part of the theme of "Alien Freak Show". This event is part "comic-con" but also just for those geeks and nerds that like to hang out with others with like interests. This will be a first for me to attend an event like this and I will focus on connection of cryptozoology and UFOs to sync with the theme of the event.

My third stop of the fall will be on October 13, 2018 at the Albatwitch Day in Columbia, Pennsylvania. I have always wanted to attend this event and am very excited to be able to speak here along with friend Rick Fisher and fellow researcher Tim Renner. The event centers on the Albatwitch which is described as a 4 foot tall hairy bipedal creature that seems to enjoy apples with Chickies Rock seemingly the center of their historical sightings.

Westerville Public Libarry in Westerville, Ohio

My fall tour will then wrap up at a library located in Westerville, Ohio, which is just northeast of Columbus and will take place on October 30. This year, 2018, will mark the tenth consecutive year that I have appeared at the Westerville Public Library and I am deeply honored to make this appearance. The Westerville Public Library is the only library I am aware of that has my books in it. This year I will present a look at Ohio based cryptids instead of my typical ghost presentations I have done in the past. My theme is "Ohio cryptids and strange creatures" and will be the second time I have talked cryptids at this library with the last coming in May of 2016, but this will be a new presentation.

After that I will be looking forward to 2019 where I am already booked at a few events in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, with the biggest one I am looking forward to taking place in Farmington, Pennsylvania being the 3rd Pennsylvania Bigfoot Camping Adventure which boasts 12 speakers and a number of special guests including the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings, AIMS, or in other words the guys from the Mountain Monsters television show, making their second straight appearance. Bill Brock, host of the television show “Monsters Underground", Dr. Jeff Meldrum will be on hand as will Cliff Barackman of Finding Bigfoot.

The Rise and Fall of the Loveland Frog

This article originally appeared in the November 2016 edition of Cryptid Culture Magazine.

Every area has their local legends or folkloric stories from crybaby bridges to purported water monsters or sightings of monkeys or monstrous snakes. In the world of cryptozoology there are animals that are reported that were thought to be extinct, animals that are found in areas that they are not supposed to exist, and cryptids that defy logic and biology.  These seemingly impossible creatures have given life to cryptozoology by partnering with the paranormal with tales of creatures that are mysterious and outright bizarre.

Loveland is a small bedroom community with less than 13,000 residents that occupies five square miles of land in southwest Ohio. The city sits about 15 miles to the northeast of the city limits of Cincinnati and has always struggled to form its own identity. The Little Miami River, a tributary that empties into the Ohio River, has always been a large part of the community and sets the scene for the Loveland Frog story that spawned from purported events in 1955.

The original Loveland Frog, or Loveland Lizard, story starts off as a “Legend has it” type of story where there are many popular variations that have been passed down over the last 60 years by those in the area. The common elements of the story include a business man who was driving home late one night who saw a few creatures he estimated to be about three to four feet tall. He purportedly described the creatures as having a head like a frog’s and deep wrinkles instead of hair. The man also described seeing one of the creatures holding a wand-like device that purportedly shot sparks from the end of it. The biggest problem with the story is no one is sure of the root of this tale. The man has no name and there is no physical record of any physical report along with no other facts such as just which road this occurred on.

For many this story is just an extension of the folklore surrounding the Shawnahooc, a bipedal reptilian creature described by the Twightwees of the Miami People that occupied this region of the mid-west in the 1840s. The Shawnahooc is also described by the Shawnee yet is folklore and is not described as a real flesh and blood creature but more than likely a metaphor for the fighting spirit of Native Americans. This story could easily be dismissed if it were not for the events that occurred 17 years later.

Friday, March 3, 1972, police officer Ray Shockey was heading back toward Loveland in his patrol car being careful due to icy conditions on the roadway. As his vehicle moved along Riverside Drive near the Little Miami River he saw a creature moving along the side of the road. As his car approached the animal it began to scurry across the roads and became illuminated in the headlights. As the creature reached the guardrail it then stood up on two feet, looked at him, and then crawled over the guardrail toward the river. Shockey described the creature as being three to four feet tall, about 50 to 75 pounds, and being covered by leathery skin. Officers were said to have investigated the area and purportedly noted scratch marks on the guardrail where creature went over, but there is no evidence to substantiate those claims.

Just when things seemed weird enough, fellow Loveland police officer Mark Matthews had his own encounter with a similar creature just two weeks after Shockey’s sighting. Matthews came upon a creature he thought was injured or dead and he intended to move it to the side of the road.  He got out of his car to move it when he said it stood up on its hind legs and hobbled over the guardrail and into the river. Matthews also stated that he fired a shot at it but was unsure if he injured it. Matthews would later change his story in 1999 to local media and in 2001 he was quoted as stating, “It was and is no 'monster'. It was not leathery or had wet matted fur. It was not 3-5 feet tall. It did not stand erect. The animal I saw was obviously some type of lizard that someone had as a pet that either got too large for its aquarium, escaped by accident or they simply got tired of it. It was less than 3 feet in length, ran across the road and was probably blinded by my headlights. It presented no aggressive action.”

Matthews’ admission that his side of the story was a hoax was probably made as an attempt to further separate him from the story. This odd and conflicting admission would help keep the Loveland Frog story alive as this created more mystery behind the modern stories.  The legend lived on happily until 2016 when another sighting opened a few doors and the legend took another dose of reality that may have eliminated what little credibility it had.

Sam Jacobs and his girlfriend were walking along Madeira Road near Lake Isabella in Loveland, Ohio, on August 3, 2016 when they purportedly saw the legendary Loveland Frog.  Sam was doing what just about every teen was doing in early August; playing Pokémon Go. Jacobs captured a quick video as well as some photographs during his evening encounter before leaving the area quickly. His story, video, and photos were in the media the following afternoon. Jacobs was quoted by a few local television stations he sent the story to including WLWT, the local NBC affiliate, “We saw a huge frog near the water," Jacobs wrote in an email to the station. "Not in the game, this was an actual giant frog.” Jacobs and his girlfriend went back to her house immediately after their sighting where his girlfriend’s parents informed them about the legend of the Loveland Frog –or so the story goes.

This new story, and its not so convincing evidence, prompted news services to suddenly take an interest in this story that seemingly had croaked a long time ago. Matthews, who now resides in Florida, gave a telling explanation of what really occurred during 1972 that attempts to tie the story up in a nice bow. He states that Shockey seemed convinced he saw something near the Totes boot factory (now known as Totes Isotoner).
Matthews did see a creature the night he was on patrol, but it didn’t go over the guardrail like reported it went under it. While Matthews had no idea what it was initially he decided to shoot it since he felt no one would believe him. He states that the creature was missing its tail and was half dead. Matthews put the creature, which turned out to be a three foot long iguana, into his trunk to show others what had been seen.

He guessed that the creature was living near the factory’s water pipes that released warm water that was used to cool ovens to stay warm. Being a cold-blooded creature it would have no other way of surviving the cold conditions of an Ohio winter. It was also pretty obvious that this was either an escaped or released pet which went unreported. Matthews told WCPO, "It's a big hoax," and, "There's a logical explanation for everything."

For some the story that Mark Matthews has been pushing since 1999 is total fiction. Some feel that it’s his way of moving away from the ridicule, stories, and the constant contact of people wanting to hear the same story told over and over.  James Renner, author of “It Came from Ohio” interviewed Ray Shockey for his 2012 book at his Loveland home. Shockey, despite telling the author he swore he decided years ago he wouldn’t talk about it anymore, is quoted in the book as saying that it definitely wasn’t an iguana and it was in fact much bigger.

So, which story is true? Did a pair of police officers independently see a three to four foot tall upright walking frog along a river in Ohio? Or did one officer misinterpret an iguana and another provided evidence for a logical conclusion despite the story never being revealed until 1999? When looking at both stories neither one makes much logical sense. The idea of a large upright walking frog is ridiculous. However, it was witnessed by two independent police officers and made a public story. If it was just an iguana why wasn’t this story squashed back in 1972?

What about this latest sighting? My interpretation of the latest Loveland Frog sighting rests squarely between an intentional hoax and a misinterpretation. Granted, if I had to pick one I would say a hoax since the witness went right to the media within 24 hours and pushed his story to the public. There was seemingly no follow-up or any type of investigation into the location of the sighting and the story disappeared as quickly as it jumped into the news. Personally, like many hoaxers, I feel he might have wanted the attention but was shocked by how much this story actually generated and did not pursue it any further. If I had seen this creature I would have returned that night with an array of flashlights, cameras, witnesses, baseball bats, or whatever else I needed to prove that this actually happened. If anything, a daytime trip to the location to look for a logical solution should have occurred before writing a blanket email to the media.

Ohio researcher and author James A. Willis offered his own theory on the latest Loveland Frog sighting. In his blog he states that he wasn’t impressed with the video and images when he first saw them stating that the creature appeared much smaller than three to four feet tall and that the eyes looked like “high beams”. While shopping at a local Big Lots retail store his wife showed him a Wilson & Fisher solar frog which has bright lights for eyes and matches the images closely. Not surprisingly, there is a Big Lots store about 4 miles outside of Loveland. Willis states that he’s not saying this is exactly the explanation, but from what I see he’s done a great job of providing similar photographs that help legitimize a hoax/misinterpretation.

So, while this latest chapter doesn’t look too promising for the Loveland Frog it did put a giant shadow of doubt on the story overall with the Matthews explanation. But, the conflicting information is just enough to keep this story afloat for just a little while longer.

Brian D. Parsons

Sources:

• WLWT.com.   "Are the Legends True? Man Claims he Spotted Fabled Loveland Frogman."  August 4, 2016.
• WCPO.com. “Officer who shot 'Loveland Frogman' in 1972 says story is a hoax.” August 5, 2016.
• Snopes.com. “’Loveland Frogman’ Spotted Again?” August, 5, 2016.
• WeirdUS.com. Loveland’s Frogman.
• Strangeandspookyworld.com. The Strange and Spooky World of James A. Willis, “Create Your Very Own Loveland Frog Hoax For Under $20.00!”
• Renner, James. (2012). It Came from Ohio: True Tales of the Weird, Wild, and Unexplained. Cleveland, Ohio. Gray & Company, Publishers.
• Image of Loveland Frog created by Tim Bertelink and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The original file, and subsequent variations, can be found on the Wikipedia entry for the Loveland Frog. By Tim Bertelink - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47617140 

Eastern Cougars: The Myth Continues

Cougars, mountain lions, pumas, panthers, catamounts, whatever you wish to call them, do not exist east of the Mississippi river. Well, except for south Florida and there's only 50 or so of those. Yes there may have been some sightings in West Virginia, Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and yeah there's Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and even Maine and Delaware (yes, even in all three counties of Delaware). But, rest assured, all of these accounts are false. They are either bobcats, house cats or maybe just dogs. Well, there could be a couple of loose cats out there. Most likely these are escaped or dumped exotic animals. We don't keep records of these types of things, but we're sure it's completely explainable this way. Either way, mountain lions do not exist in any state east of the Mississippi (again, except Florida). That's our statement and we're sticking to it.

The above is the typical response you will get from any eastern state on the status of mountain lions from their respective wildlife or Department of Natural Resource officials. They all categorically deny the possibility of any number of cougars populating any state in the east. Despite growing numbers of sightings as well as evidence of sign (tracks, scat, hair, mauled prey) officials still have a list of excuses as long as a mountain lion's tail. Typically the response is a loose exotic pet. OK, so where did it come from? Don't they keep records on who owns these "pets"? No, no, what you saw was a bobcat, common mistake. Why do they always assume that the hunter who has seen bobcats before always mistakes a bobcat for a cougar (or even the person who has never seen either who perfectly describes a cougar from the color down to the long tail...umm, bobcats don't have much of a tail to brag about).

On the flip side of this argument one can agree that despite the numerous sightings in various parts of different states there does not seem to be any large population of these animals in the east. There has yet to be a carcass of a cougar from a vehicle strike anywhere on the eastern U.S. and this argument does provide the example that there is not a strong population established. DNR officials frequently track various animals to keep track of population as well as disease and other factors. These DNR officials are not coming across much in the way of evidence concerning cougars (or are they?).

There are many out there that feel that this denial is part of a larger conspiracy. Conspiracy? About cougars? Apparently many people feel DNR agencies do not want to pay to have to manage cougars and that denying their existence (or getting rid of them without our knowledge) keeps them from stretching their budget. Speaking of budgets, let's take that one a step farther. The state makes a killing, no pun intended, on licenses and related items spent on hunting seasons. If a predatory species were introduced (or found its way) into the ecosystem it would cut into the deer population. There is currently 600,000 estimated deer in Ohio (2006) and no natural predators other than humans (and vehicles). A cougar (or even wolf) population in the state of Ohio would provide many headaches and lost money for DNR folks so their denial is understandable, but is it possible for cougar to exist east of the Mississippi?

Let's consider the possibility: Did cougars once call this area home? Yes. Why are they no longer around? Hunting was the biggest culprit over the last 200 years. Other factors were changing land into farming area and depletion of food sources (mainly deer) in the mid to late 1800's and into the early 1900s.

But, aren't there plenty of deer running around now? In 1904 in the state of Ohio there were no deer. It took a few decades of natural re-growth as well as restocking programs to bring the deer back to Ohio. The same followed suit in a number of neighboring states. Now that the food source has been re-established, doesn't it make sense that a top predator is making progress toward reclaiming its former territory? Another possibility may be because of another predator; the wolf.

Wolves were driven from the U.S. the in many of the same methods as the cougar, but were even more feared as they traveled in packs and consumed more kill than cougar. Wolf populations exist in Canada and extend into Michigan and Minnesota. They were also reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Could these expanding wolf populations be driving cougars to areas of less competition?

There are, of course, other theories about how cougars could be in the eastern states. One theory is that they never really left the states east of the Mississippi. Somehow small collections of these animals avoided detection for decades and are slowly branching in every direction. As people sprawl out these animals are in constant search for places to hunt and live in a human-free environment. A second theory is that they have traveled here from the closest known area of thriving population, western North Dakota. Cougars travel amazing distances in short periods of time, mainly in search of food. The roaming theory has a major flaw in that it would be extremely difficult for males and females to mate if they were living hundreds of miles apart and would make it nearly impossible to have thriving populations. Then again, male cougars have been known to have territories as large as almost 300 square miles, but females typically have smaller ranges. Lastly, we could guess that numerous animals escaped or were dumped into the wild and have now somehow bred and created tiny populations. Highly unlikely, but a possibility.

So, what does this have to do with the paranormal? Well, cougars are not necessarily paranormal, but they are actually considered cryptids in the state of Ohio (since they supposedly do not exist here) and any sighting interests those who pursue cryptids. Hopefully this cryptid will eventually be confirmed in some eastern states. It's also interesting that a 9 foot long 160 lb+ creature can go undetected. Confirmation of this animal in Ohio and neighboring states may be a victory for Bigfoot researchers everywhere.

Here is a little more insight:

Eastern Cougar.Org reports that cougars have been sighted in numerous areas of Louisiana in areas which are just to the west of the mighty Mississippi river. I guess the river just mysteriously holds them back from populating the east coast.

Here is a video concerning the recent Chicago, Illinois sighting and eventual shooting of a cougar and the cover-up behind the ongoing saga of these animal sightings in Illinois:

*Deer-vehicle collisions cost an average of $2,600 in medical and mechanical costs. In 2003 there were more than 31,000 deer-vehicle collisions reported.

A sustained group of cougars will help naturally cull deer populations year round and hinder deer-vehicle collisions.

*Source: OurOhio.Org

What is "ParaNewsInsider"?

First of all, welcome to the blog home of the Paranormal News Insider, or ParaNewsInsider for short.

I've started out of the gate here at blogspot and have not yet properly introduced what the site is all about. The Paranormal News Insider is my personal web site for sharing paranormal and odd news stories from around the world. In addition to the stories are my personal added insight and investigation into some of these various stories. I will also include some of my personal investigations that I have planned for later in 2009. My first planned investigation is a trip to the western Pennsylvania woods where I will be doing some Bigfoot and EVP research and investigation work while backpacking. I will also be investigating some hot spots that I have determined in Ohio at various times this year. Hopefully I will have some reports to investigate along the way as well.

The Paranormal News Insider was started in July of 2008 (and made its debut in late August) as a site dedicated to my new newscast within a podcast. I was approached by Dan Bautz in April of 2008 to appear on his new podcast show, the Grand Dark Conspiracy. I was excited as I have done a few shows in the past and had been wanting to do one again, but the opportunity to just be a guest was even better.

I was the first and only guest that May discussing my paranormal group, Ohio Paranormal Investigation Network. The next show featured Parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach who has unknowingly been my guide and mentor through his books and some advice he has given me over the years. I became an advisor of sorts to Dan and helped him find guests for the next few months and later made another appearance in the August show, though this time I helped him shift gears away from the ghosts field to U.F.O. and cryptid discussions. We also talked about some current news that was happening at the time. This lead to our mutual idea of me having a monthly segment on the show discussing the current news of the paranormal. In September of 2008 the Paranormal News Insider segment was born...

The show has been surprisingly successful and the level of guests have helped bring in some large amounts of listeners. The website, on the other hand, has been slow to gain momentum and I had contemplated shutting it down as the calendar flipped to 2009. My ghost group is taking off in membership/casework and I have committed myself to many projects this year (and have others in waiting). All of this and I still have a full time job and a marriage to maintain, so maybe I bit off more than I can chew? This leads me to one of the questions I have been asked a few times over the last couple of months:

How come you only show a couple of news stories in each subject?

Part of the idea behind this site is to focus on the stories that may have the most meaning in their respective fields. Not every ghost story really adds anything to the field and not every U.F.O. story really seems to have impact. I pick and choose the particular stories I feel will have an impact and that may evolve as time goes on. Many of these stories have many facets to them that may spawn urban legends or other forms about mis-information down the road and I am actually e-mailing and/or calling sources related to these stories to help clarify various questions or mis-information. Of course, a lot of this also follows the fact that the site comes last after my job, wife, paranormal group, personal investigations, the GDC podcast and my other projects. Although I have vowed not to let the site be idle for three weeks or more and is another reason why I created this blog....

Why this blog?

The blog was created as an idea for me to be able to share my thoughts, ideas as well as my research and investigations into ghosts, U.F.O. and cryptid topics. While most of my ghost cases deal with clients (confidentiality) I am still an active member in the ghost community and am active in research in various aspects of the field. I also utilize the methods of M.U.F.O.N. for U.F.O. investigations (although I am not an active Field Investigator for them) and I am the Ohio Representative for the Crypto Squad U.S.A. and a member of the Sasquatch Research Initiative. So, I owe it to the cryptid organizations to report and investigate what is happening in Ohio in regards to cryptids as well as make my investigation attempts public record.

What's so special about paranewsinsider?

Or, "Gee, just what the world needs, another paranormal news site!", or perhaps, "Great, another 'paranormal expert' is born". The Paranormal News Insider does not report on every single piece of news. We do have news feeds provided by Paranormal News.com although the stories I post are based upon the criteria I mentioned above. I also take a bit of Ohio flavor as I live in north east Ohio and the Grand Dark Conspiracy podcast is also based in Ohio, not to mention a majority of the investigations I will do will take place locally. While there are other sites that do it, I am also trying to get as many links to various paranormal, UFO and cryptid conventions and meetings across the country. I had contemplated on forming a new cryptid organization in Ohio, but that is on hold until I get a little help with that venture. Again, like I mention on the ParaNewsInsider page, I do not claim to be an expert. I have over 12 years of experience in ghost investigations, almost two decades of interviewing experience and a mulititude of other knowledge and experience in various fields that have helped me in the investigation and research aspects of the ghost, U.F.O. and cryptid fields. While I don't think of myself as an expert I know I have a lot to offer all three fields.

Have questions, comments? Let me know at my ParaNewsInsider address.