“Wow!” Signal: A new potential explanation and my journey through history before the mystery is (possibly) lifted

Photo BigEar.org

On August 15, 1977 at 11:16 PM eastern daylight savings time the Ohio State University Radio Observatory (OSURO), or affectionately called the “Big Ear” radio telescope in Delaware, Ohio, recorded what is now known as the “Wow!” signal. At the time the signal came in no one was at the facility. A few days later (possibly August 19^th) Jerry R. Ehman was reviewing printouts that were delivered to him at his home from Gene Mikesell, a technician who was in charge of taking care of the IBM computer that was doing all the work at the site. Every 3 to 4 days Gene would stop, reset, and then restart the computer due to its limited amount of room for data and then bring the stack of printouts to Ehman to look through. The men were part of a volunteer effort to detect narrow band signals that could possibly be sent from an extraterrestrial source known as the SETI project, short for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which uses various satellites to search for signals in space. Ehman and others involved in the project had formerly worked at the radio telescope until the National Science Foundation suddenly shut off funding in August of 1972. In December of 1973 until 1995 the radio telescope was used for the volunteer effort of the SETI project after it had completed a radio survey of the Andromeda Galaxy in 1963 and the Ohio Sky Survey between 1965 and 1971.

Color copy of the signal with a note from Jerry Ehman on December 18, 1999
on display at Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio. (click to enlarge)

As Jerry sat and reviewed the printouts he suddenly saw the data from a few days prior. In a vertical column with the alphanumerical sequence “6EQUJ5”, that represents 72 seconds worth of information gathered from the radio telescope, he circled the data and wrote “Wow!” in the margin. The alphanumeric code essentially describes the intensity variation of the signal and it has been given two different values for its frequency within the 1420 Megahertz range which puts it in the hydrogen line frequency. What does this mean for searching for extraterrestrials? SETI believed that since hydrogen is the most common element in the universe extraterrestrials might use that frequency to transmit a strong signal. The problem is researchers have been unable to find the signal from the original source of the constellation Sagittarius, near the Chi Sagittarii star group.

John Kraus, Bob Dixon, Ehman, and others poured over the data and attempted to find a cause. All terrestrial causes were ruled out, in the words of Ehman ruled out means “to assign a very low probability to.” The researchers also considered other celestial explanations, but nothing could satisfactorily explain the data. Unfortunately, the data was limited due to the technology and software used, and since it was never repeated does not offer any additional help to ever be solved.

In 2016 a new hypothesis was presented after nearly 40 years of a lack of a definitive answer. Antonio Paris, a professor of astronomy at St Petersburg College in Florida, and Evan Davies proposed that the signal actually originated from one of two comets that were flying by at the time. Many researchers feel that since the signal has not been observed again from the same origin that it must have been something passing through the area between the observation point and the intended target of the Sagittarius constellation. James Bauer of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is skeptical of this hypothesis since the comet would have to release a significant amount of hydrogen to produce such a signal. Paris states that in order to rule out the comets his hypothesis needs to be tested. Comet 266P/Christensen will be back in that region on January 25, 2017, and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) on January 7, 2018. By studying their radio emission and how quickly they move in the sky, astronomers should be able to tell if it really was this that produced the “Wow!” signal.

Some may think that Antonio Paris is just here to ruin the longstanding belief that this is a piece of leading evidence in the support of life outside of the Earth. Paris is the founder and director of the Aerial Phenomena Investigation team that is a worldwide effort to actively research and investigate UFO claims. His goal is not to discredit Ehman, but to hopefully provide answers that have plagued this code for so long.

The computer that captured the "Wow!" signal in 1977
on display at Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio

Ehman wrote a follow-up article to the “Wow!” signal in 1997 and again in 2007 where he discussed many details surrounding how the signal was obtained and what work was done to determine its origin. While Ehman was working with SETI to find evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence he was not so quick to assume the signal was from an extraterrestrial race. While many terrestrial explanations were essentially ruled out he still does not hold a strong opinion on what could have caused the signal. He also warns against anyone making assumptions about the work by those who do not fully understand the equipment and software that was used to obtain the data. In his article Ehman states, “There is simply too little data to draw many conclusions. In other words, as I stated above, I choose not to ‘draw vast conclusions from 'half-vast' data’.”

The “Big Ear” observatory was built from 1956 to 1961 and was first turned on in 1963. The concrete structure was built on the grounds near the Perkins Observatory that was built starting in 1923 and was not completed until 1931 when the 69 inch mirror was finally installed for the telescope. The “Big Ear” was last used in 1997. While the Perkins Observatory still stands the Ohio State University Radio Observatory was demolished in 1998 due to a variety of circumstances as the land was sold to developers. The area where this historic signal was detected is now part of a golf course. An Ohio historical marker stands near the entrance to the golf course on highway 23 known as Columbus Pike just south of downtown Delaware, Ohio.

Pieces of the reflector screen of the "Big Ear" radio telescope
on display at Perkins Observatory

After reading about the new information potentially writing off the “Wow!” signal I became more interested than ever to visit this site before the mystery may potentially be erased. I had learned of the “Wow!” signal early in my study of UFO material and was excited that this took place in my home state of Ohio. I also knew the facility had been removed, but I had no idea if anything about the find still existed. On a January 22, 2016, I visited the Perkins Observatory for a “cloudy night” presentation. Through the old telescopes and other antiques, the displays of meteor fragments, the explanations of various astronomical events and heavenly bodies, the outdated computers, and dusty pictures of rockets and manned vehicles going to space in a forgotten generation I stumbled upon a room that made my eyes light up. I walked into a room with a sign above it called “E.T. Radio” which is located next to the gift shop in the north wing (to the left) just off the center of the Perkins Observatory. Hidden in the corner are the only remaining pieces of the “Big Ear” observatory that look like scrap metal. The big thing that immediately attracted me was the original computer system that took the data for the “Wow!” signal. There is a whole wall explaining the basics of the signal. There is also a color copy on the wall of the original printout that contains the signal data which has a short explanation from Jerry Ehman written in cursive in pen in the margin on December 18, 1999, “After more than 22 years we still do not have a definitive explanation of this signal. Although we are able to rule out many suggested explanations, the possibility of this signal coming from an extraterrestrial intelligent civilization cannot be ruled out.” The original printout is preserved by the Ohio History Connection (formerly Ohio Historical Society) based at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Exterior of the Perkins Observatory on the night of my visit

Resources:

• News story about Antonio Paris and his new hypothesis: IFL Science 
• Hydrogen Clouds from Comets 266/P Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs)are Candidates for the Source of the 1977 “WOW” Signal: The paper submitted by Paris and Davies 
• “Big Ear” observatory memorial website
• In depth explanation of the “Wow!” signal by Jerry Ehman
• “Wow!” signal Wikipedia
• Perkins Observatory: http://perkins.owu.edu/
• Ohio History Connection page on the "Wow!" signal: The home of the original printout

The Basics of Researching Online Media

“If you throw something up without fact-checking it and you’re the first one to put it up, and you get millions and millions of views, and later it’s proved false, you still got those views." 
- Ryan Grim, the bureau chief in Washington for The Huffington Post

Credit: lculig/Shutterstock

We’ve all read a story that is shocking, unbelievable, or just too good to be true. Some people may take the time to actually read the story before forming an opinion, others may judge on the headline either for or against the validity of the story based on their beliefs or perspective, and others may simply share or recirculate the story without reading it with the hopes that someone else can get to the bottom of it. Then there are those that merely believe anything and everything they read without thought. I mention this last group apart from the others since this gullible group is generally the target to those who intend to fool based on their agenda, beliefs, or just for the thrill of creating viral confusion or gaining their fifteen minutes of fame through a hoax. Gullibility does not imply someone is stupid, it merely means some people do not take or have the time to dig into certain headlines and others may just not know how to do it. To many these stories really are not worth the time to dig into and passing it along and looking back later for the solution is much easier. In some cases I just don’t think people care whether a story is valid or not anyway, it’s just getting “mind blown” that is the experience; the truth is boring to some. For others many stories support their beliefs or agenda and they will pass it off as fact since they have little reason or desire to verify it. Others may be quick to dismiss stories based on the same beliefs, again without verification. Technology is the carrier of these memes and it also the method in which to provide the antidote on a case by case basis. I come from a time before the World Wide Web of endless information when one had to search through books to find answers and in the case of the Internet you had to know what door to look through to find answers without a web browser, Google, or any way to simply enter a search cue into the system. Even before web browsers and the World Wide Web there were many emails circulated as hoaxes so this is not a new sensation although the large use of social media and the Internet has made this a growing problem. The leading social media platform, Facebook, has attempted to hinder the spread of hoaxes, but to little avail. 

There are many ways to look for the truth in a story, but the easiest way is to spot the misinformation. To spot the things that the story relies on as fact and expose it as a lie is the best method of dismantling a story quickly. However, there are some cases in which facts must merely be looked for elsewhere from more reliable means. An example would be in the case of a famous person dying, do not rely on fan sites for the information instead look toward an official channel of a band’s website or their agent for an official release.

I deal with identifying the validity of stories each and every day as I gather information for my weekly show, the Paranormal News Insider. I pride myself on searching for answers instead of merely regurgitating what appears in print on other sites. While I use many methods to search for the truth within information I have a fairly reliable method that has become a habit of use that I use when reading any type of story. This is what I call my basic “outside in” approach. With this approach I look at the top and bottom and move my way in to the core of the story to look for details of a hoax or misinformation. Once key details are established I can begin searching other resources outside of this page for more details to either confirm or deny this story, yet this also comes with pitfalls. Some stories have aspects of these that need to be researched to get a better feel of whether the story was created or shared by a credible source. Establishing the source is critical in determining the validity of a story.

With any story a headline can be deceiving. Many of us have become reliant upon a headline to provide us as much information as possible to understand a story without actually having to read it. If you have an interest in a story or intend to share the information it would behoove you to actually take time to read the entire story for content. There are many clues within the body of a story that can help you decide whether there is enough credibility in the story to pass it on. Again, headlines can be deceiving and the content of the story may have a different version of what you might actually think is there based on the deception.

Researching general stories found online:

The first step in determining the validity of any story is to first take the time to read it. A simple way of getting to the truth is to see if there is already someone who has done research on a story is to merely search for it. Use the keywords of a story and then enter “hoax” or other words that you think of that your gut is telling you about the story. Websites like Snopes.com, Hoax-slayer.com, urbanlegends.about.com, truthorfiction.com, and many others provide a resource of sanity about many of the hoaxes on the Internet.  Granted, one rule I always live by; NEVER RELY ON ONE RESOURCE FOR THE TRUTH!

Many people question the reliability of the leader of these sites; Snopes. This website is edited by a husband and wife team and while there may be mistakes all of the information gathered for a story is given out so the research behind every claim is there for the world to see. They have been judged by a number of other sites to be as accurate as you will find onthe subjects and the accuracy outweighs the minimal mistakes. The same holds true for another valued, yet many times questioned, resource; Wikipedia. This resource of information has received a bad rap from many people since it is an open-source where anyone can edit and update information. However, Wikipedia is watched closely for updates and requires legitimate resources for major changes or additions. Many have never questioned the validity of Encyclopedia Britannica, but Wikipedia has been found to be just as reliable mostly due to the diligent eyes on its content.

My “outside in” approach to validating online media:    

1. Consider the source

•  Is this a legitimate website? Is the URL spelled correctly? No? It may be a mirror site (or spoof site) and is created to fool you into thinking it is a credible source. Is this a parody website? (onion.com type).  Is this from a website where regular people contribute in blog style? This is by far the most common type of website hoax where stories are spread via misinformation and will take the longest to unravel at times since the story is written by the author’s opinion and web of lies and misinformation. A list of these sites would be in the hundreds (see a small list below before the resources) and includes sites like beforeitsnews.com, many government, conspiracy, and UFO sites that are merely fronts for people’s thoughts, ideas, opinions, fears, and agendas.

2. Consider the resource

•  The single most important thing after determining the validity of the website that the story appears on is finding the original source of the story. Any good media story that is merely copied and pasted will provide a link to the original source of the story at the bottom or sometimes the top of their posting. If there is a link open this one in a new tab and begin to evaluate it to determine the time/date is actually earlier than the one you originally opened. If this source appears to be an earlier version this is where you continue your research on the story beginning with determining if this is a legitimate source as well as if this story has a resource listed at the top or bottom of the story. The caveat with this is that there are some sites that back dates stories (such as celebrity death hoaxes) to confuse people. Continue to chase these sources until you reach the bottom of the rabbit hole. Unfortunately, many online media outlets do not take the time to fact check and are merely concerned with website traffic. Getting you to click on their website puts money in their pockets based on advertisers, so they honestly care little about the facts up front.
• Go local. You can also search for and look at other sources local to where the story purportedly took place. During the Jerusalem UFO sightings that seemed extremely credible I was not able to find any mention of the sightings in any local or regional online sources in the area and have found the same in many other hoaxes. However, during recent unexplained noises in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, the best updates were available from the local newspapers which printed updates which were then copied by the regional news channel websites. Go to Google and search for the city where the story takes place and use words like “newspaper” or “news” and you should be able to find local sources. Granted, searching for phrases of meaning with the story can help speed up the process by bringing up the multitude of copies of the story and will allow you to see where they are coming from to aid in the search for the original source.
• If the story does not list a source for the story then the content must be put into question as well as the person behind the post.  This is a positive indication that the person may have made this story up or has copied other information and created a version of a story about something else. Don’t be afraid to email someone associated with the site to find the source of their content; their answer or lack thereof will guide you to your answer. In some cases, such as a UFO, ghost, or cryptid news site the story may have been submitted to them. The question is then; did they evaluate, research, or investigate this story or merely put it up on the website as quickly as possible? Hoaxers and attention seekers will find sites like these to get their “stories” out in public quickly.

3. Consider the content

• Is the story filled with frequent misspellings, run on sentences, or is the structure of the story all over the place? Granted, punctuation is not something many in the media worry about these days as they rely on spell check and many times the comments section will point out issues which they will silently correct.
• Does the content seem to merely support and idea, opinion, or agenda more than actually reporting an event or story about something or someone? If so, this website is obviously peddling an agenda and not a legitimate story. I recommend using key terms in the article to be highlighted, right clicked, and searched for current information beyond this story and those that have copied that information until an actual source can be found if you have not done so already.

4. Consider the evidence

• They say a picture is worth a thousand words and articles can live and die with them. While sadly it has become common practice for many news agencies to alter photographs in order to focus on certain things others will immediately fire you for such an act. Photographs have been edited long before digital methods such as Photoshop came along and most of us take edited photographs for granted as they appear on nearly every single magazine on the newsstands.
• Many images are altered to provide visual evidence to support the story. If a story is reliant upon an image you can take simple steps to search for an original unaltered image if one exists. There are two methods; Google image search and TinEye that search the Internet for photographs that have been placed on the web and have been crawled and recorded on search engines. Both of these resources have plugins that will allow you to right click on the image and search from the prompt (see resources below). You will have to scroll through examples of these photographs and see if you can find other versions of this photograph that indicate that the one in the story has been tampered with.
• There are limitations to mere image searching. For starters, if the person is using a photograph that has not been crawled and is not preexisting on the Internet you will obviously not find the original. Also, if an image is altered significantly it may not show up in simple image searches. You can combat this by cropping the image or altering the image eliminating an area you feel is put in digitally using simple methods such as using paint on Windows-based computers. After retouching you can upload it to TinEye to see if the alterations helped the search. Another reason for images not being found is if they are screen captures of videos. On more than one occasion I have traced an altered photograph to a video. In Google you can search for topics by category and if I hit a dead end with pictures I may try to search for relevant videos on the specific topic of the photograph to see if there is a video with the image.
• Be mindful that just because you are unable to find an altered image does not mean the photograph in the story is legitimate. There are many other ways to determine the validity of photographs such as using InfranView and other software to find image inconsistencies created from digital manipulation to looking at the metadata, but I’ll save that for a more in-depth look at uncovering the truth.

5. Consider the comments

• One highly overlooked method of finding the truth is based on those commenting on the story. Granted, reading through comments on stories that rely on belief tend to be full of opinions and arguments, but occasionally there will be a crusader of research (such as myself) that will jump in and provide useful information that can dispel these stories. I usually will peruse the comments section of the viral post as well as the original source to seek out clues or information that can help me unravel as hoax.

I will cover YouTube and other videos in a separate blog post in the future.

Sites to question or avoid based on who is able to publish on these sites, their agenda, or other questionable reasons:

• Beforeitsnews.com, NaturalNews.com, InfoWars.com, DailyCurrant.com, NationalReport.net, WorldNewsDailyReport.com, AmericanNews.com, Celebtricity.com, Huzlers.com, DoctorOz.com, TheNewsNerd.com, News-hound.org, NewsWatch33.com, TheRacketReport.com, WeeklyWorldNews.com, Demyx.com, Empirenews.net, MediaFletcher.com, EmpireSports.co, Disclose.tv, FoodBabe.com, Chopra.com, ChristianAnswers.net, Heartland.org, TheLapine.ca, MediaMass.net, Newslo.com, NewsBuzzDaily.com, EmpireNews.net, TheOnion.com, The DailyMash.co.uk, Rumormillnews.com, Whatreallyhappened.com, Drudgereport.com, blacklistednews.com, rense.com, inquisitor.com, examiner.com, even huffingtonpost.com. This is by no means a complete list!

Resources and further reading:

• TinEye: Reverse image search, the ultimate resource for discovering other sources of pictures by entering URL or uploading directly to system. TinEye has a plug in that allows for right click usage on multiple browser platforms; chrome, firefox, IE, safari, and opera.
• Google Image Search Chrome Plugin: While you can search and advance search images by going to Google.com you can use this plugin by right clicking over an image the same way as TinEye.
• Snopes: The leader in truth finding.
• Hoax Slayer: Another leader in the truth.
• Urban Legends at About.com: Hosted by David Emery.
• Truth or Fiction: A non-partisan site geared toward uncovering recent urban legends and hoax stories.
• Better Read That Again: Web Hoaxes and Misinformation
• The Complete Guide to Evaluating Online Resources: From Hosting Facts.com.
• Evaluating Internet Resources: From Teacher Tap. 
• Lies, Damn Lies and Viral Content: How News Websites Spread(and Debunk) Online Rumors, Unverified Claims and Misinformation.
• How to Spot Lies, Hoaxes and Misinformation Online
• The Observers’ guide to verifying photos and videos on social media networks.
• You're not going to read this: But you'll probably share it anyway: A study of how stories are read, or not read, and shared on social media.
• Facebook Is Cracking Down on Viral Hoaxes. Really. A look at how Facebook has attempted to slow the problem.
• Don't Be Fooled! A Guide to Fake News Websites: From David Emery of About.com
• Posing Questions of Photographic Ethics.
• Photojournalism Behind the Scenes: An excellent view of how photographers influence events.
• What Happens When Photoshop Goes Too Far.
• National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics.
• DHMO.org: Dihydrogen monoxide research division: A parody website that shows how people will sometimes believe anything!
• Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: Another parody website that is not viral, but would certainly confuse a lot of people.
• Museum of hoaxes: A nice collection of stories across the ages.
• Fake websites or spoof websites. Examples of false sites to aid in evaluating internet resources.
• Small list of hoax sites for educating people: Many of these are old or no longer working, but are some of the best created!
• Top Internet hoaxes: A short list of some of the best hoaxes over the years.

UFOs over Santiago, Chile: SOLVED

It was utter chaos in Santiago, Chile on December 22nd, 2015 as a pair of videos demonstrates. The two videos showed up on YouTube and the speculation in the UFO world went wild. The first one, seen at right, created a big buzz throughout the media and UFO and paranormal bloggers alike as everyone weighed in on what they thought was going on.Was this an invasion of several alien craft? No. The simple fact is this event happens every year. Similar videos have also popped up ever since 2003. The reason for this yearly occurrence is these lights in the sky are actually T-35 pillar propeller driven  aircraft used by the Chilean Air Force. What we are seeing is the end of the graduation ceremony where the two-seater craft are flown over the skies of Santiago.

 Despite this simple explanation many still argue that the planes don't seem to look or fly normal and they are not buying it. Granted, there are others who have picked up on posts from others who have seen this story in the past and have provided the answer. Just with a quick search of YouTube you can find plenty of videos that document these sighting year-to-year. Many of the titles will even have "T-35" in the title, for obvious reasons. The big giveaway is the fact that you can easily see strobe lights on every single one of the crafts.

The T-35 is a trainer aircraft used by Chile and is a two-seater turboprop driven plane. The videos would not pick up the sounds of the aircraft due to the distance between the witness and the craft. Even then, these are small planes with propellers so they are not really that loud (see the video of the parade from 2010). It's hard to believe that the locals would not be used to seeing these aircraft flying over city, but certainly a tight formation would not occur that often especially in the evening.

Video from 2013: https://www.youtube....h?v=XeyOdgKKq8E
Video from 2012: https://www.youtube....h?v=iumaKgWc5wQ
Video from 2012 of the parade: https://www.youtube....h?v=DPLND5uEChw
Video from 2011: https://www.youtube....h?v=t9Pm9bsFixA
Video from 2010 (with the explanation at the end in Spanish):https://www.youtube....h?v=TZO-PHJ4Jlw
Video of the parade in 2010: https://www.youtube....h?v=YAlUlUUKTpY
Video from 2008: https://www.youtube....h?v=QAkx9yJRqv0
Video from 2004: https://www.youtube....h?v=7rj18ORX5i8
Video from 2003: https://www.youtube....h?v=f0zwg-FNPrA

Top Ten Paranormal News Stories of 2015

I bring you my annual list of the top stories of the paranormal world. There is no way for me to say this is the definitive way these stories should be listed and arguments for the arrangement could be made to put any one of the top ten at number 1, but this list is essentially my opinion on the matter based on a year with few groundbreaking or long lasting viral stories. I have been doing this list since the end of the 2009 season of the Paranormal News Insider.

How is this list assembled?

Stories make the top ten for two basic reasons. The first reason is the story must be viral. A viral story may only be popular on social media (YouTube, Facebook Twitter, etc.) through one or multiple platforms. These stories may also become viral through news media either locally, regionally, or globally. How big a story becomes is one thing, but how long the story lasts in the media is another. A story that is a flash in the pan that is a global story may not be ranked as high as a story that was a big story only regionally yet lasted weeks. The second reason stories make this list is based on the impact they have on the particular aspect of the paranormal field they have to do with. Stories that offer a glimmer of hope in a particular field will usually be ranked higher than a story that is based on a hoax. Using these two scales as a guide I rank each story against each other with both aspects and eventually whittle down a list of stories into a top ten.

Some years are fantastic and other years are duds when it comes to paranormal stories. I will be doing a top three from 2008 through 2015 sometime in 2016, but 2015 was a dud when compared to 2008 (Stephenville, Texas UFO, Georgia Bigfoot Hoax, Montauk Monster) and other years that had standout stories. Here is this years list:


10. A video surfaced in early September that was being called "Real Pterosaur Spotted over Idaho, USA". A few others splattered this over social media and have claimed that it took place in Ohio.

A small amount of detective work links the YouTube video back to the original source of o7tv YouTube channel. While the video itself looks realistic there are a few strange things about it. The flying creature looked stiff, rather like an electronic flying toy. Many posted this as a likely explanation along with a cheesy version of a radio controlled pterodactyl, but the comparison was not close. Many said this was CGI, but there seemed to be no evidence of it being a digital manipulation. In all likelihood the video is a fake of some sort. This YouTube user is also responsible for a number of other releases of videos that are admitted CGI hoaxes, such as the video from 2013 titled “Real UFO with aliens caught on camera” where a skinny alien seems to wave while it stands by a UFO sitting on a hill. The UFO suddenly darts into the sky and the camera drops as the person filming apparently runs away. Later, the UFO is seen hovering again only to shoot off after hovering for a moment. “Car Disappears on Highway”, “Dragon Flying over England” are also examples of viral hits from this user that have generated millions of views. These videos demonstrate some similar effects of those seen in the pterosaur video. So, was the video a real 65 million year old creature flying around Idaho? Probably not, but it's likely that we will never know and the amount of speculation surrounding this video landed it in the countdown this year.

Why it’s in the top ten: It was a viral hit and while many people figured it was the work of a hoax there were just as many that believed this could be real. There were very little details that pegged this as CGI, despite many people claiming it, and it pointed toward a mechanical version of the extinct reptile. However, no one could find a source for this being a remote controlled replica of this extinct creature. Why it’s number 10: While it was very viral it disappeared just as quickly as the creature in the video did. No further evidence could keep this story in the news despite it being one of the most shared videos dealing with the paranormal this year.

9. One story that evolved slowly at first before gaining a snowball momentum was the image of the purported Jersey Devil that was sent in to NJ.com and was shared with the world on October 12th. The story goes that a man named Dave Black was driving home in Galloway, New Jersey, when he spotted what he thought was a llama near the road. Suddenly, this llama-like creature spread its leathery wings and took flight over a golf course. Black was able to snap a few pictures, but only one came out. Then, the story began to develop. A day later a video was sent in to NJ.com

by a reader named Emily who was traveling through Leeds Point. She tries to add credibility to the video by stating she is a middle school teacher who moonlights as an algebra tutor for high school students. The video shows the dreaded Jersey Devil quickly flying across the screen as the person filming it lets out a quiet gasp. Even though most people realized this was not a legitimate story things quickly escalated for Kelly Roncace who wrote the piece. She was quoted as saying that once the video was added that "...all hell broke loose." She was getting calls from Good Morning America and news outlets all over the United States and beyond. It also got the attention of many skeptics and paranormal bloggers who were quick to dismiss both the photograph and video. Kelly was attacked by many, but she stated that her section is a features column and was not supposed to be taken as actual news. 

Why it’s in the top ten: This story contained different bits of sightings of a unique and well known cryptid and the story went viral beyond simple social media. The fact that Good Morning America and other news stations showed interest, although not serious about the creature’s existence, also added to this story being included on the list. Why it’s only number 9; the story did not have enough traction or validity or even follow up to consider it being any higher than number 9. If there were other viral stories similar to this with even a bit better evidence, the term used loosely here, this story would have been pushed to number ten or out of the top ten easily.

8. There exists some good evidence that the Loch Ness Monster was a story created for tourism in the 1930s. I mentioned on the September 29^th episode of the Paranormal News Insider how Crop Circles may have been born in English Pubs, now it seems that the Loch Ness Monster may have been created not at the bottom of Loch Ness, but at the bottom of a nice ale. The monster was supposedly created by a man named DG Gerahty, who was hired by several Scottish hotel owners to help drum up business through tourism. The group was supposedly inspired by Lake Ogopogo’s folkloric monster in Canada. They were also purportedly inspired by a book.

 Professor Gareth Williams suggested these claims in a new book that the Loch Ness Monster was created to help spur sagging tourism after the Great Depression. He also pointed out in his research that the answer to the story behind the monster may lie in a short extract from a semi-autobiographical novel called Marise. In the novel, the narrator described how the story of the monster in the Scottish loch was invented in a pub near Trafalgar square. Professor Williams said that the lack of sightings of the monster before 1930 strengthens the argument that the monster was made up in the early 1930s. Once a sighting took place the flood gates were opened and remain open to this day despite many photographs being disproved as hoaxes or misinterpretations. Many new photographs and evidence continue to pop up only to be discovered as hoaxes or again; misinterpretations. Is the Loch Ness Monster real? Not likely and this story might sound like a nail in the coffin, but the story of Nessie has survived this long and is doubtful to disappear due to facts just as it has all these years.

Why it’s in the top ten; this is a telling story about the potential origin of one of the most popular creatures in cryptozoology. While it seems to legitimately discount the creature as being real it will not take away from it being a popular cryptid. Why it’s number 8 in the countdown: this release of information did very little to disperse the legend of the Loch Ness Monster nor did it really gain much traction as a viral story outside of the United Kingdom or have any impact on tourism to the Loch Ness area, at least negatively.

7. The floating city in China. Thousands of people reported seeing a strange city floating in the sky complete with skyscrapers in the city of Foshan in the Guangdong province in China on October 9th. Numerous photographs and videos documented the strange event that left some wondering if a parallel universe opened up in the skies. If that wasn’t enough, just a few days later a similar event happened over the skies of Jiangxi (GEE-ONg-SHE) China. Conspiracy theorists were quick to make several accusations about the event in an attempt to explain what was happening.

Was it a Project Blue Beam test? Could this be a temporal vortex, a possible parallel universe materializing briefly into our own reality? Some also felt considering China's technological achievements that a top secret holographic technology was tested over a heavily populated area in an effort to gauge the public reaction. These are all nice guesses, but unfortunately the reality is a little less exciting. This event, while rare, actually happens often in China for some reason, but is known to occur most often in polar regions and is known as Fata Morgana. No, this isn’t some French socialite, but it is the name for a natural mirage caused by weather and the infamous temperature inversion. Fata Morgana is the Italian name for Morgan Le Fay, and other names, as the enchantress from the King Arthur legends. Fata Morgana can be seen on land or sea and involves the optical distortion and inversion of distant objects such as boats, which can appears as skyscrapers because the images become stacked, when rays of light bend as they pass through air of different temperatures such as in a heat haze. The real thing here is that while it’s quite a sight and does not happen often, it has been noted every few years especially here in the paranormal news arena. These sightings are also confused with UFO sightings as the mirage comes from below the horizon and makes an object appear in the sky and a Fata Morgana can also trick RADAR signals into perceiving objects floating as well.

Why it’s in the top ten: this story scared the living daylights out of a lot of people, and not just in China. It lead to an enormous amount of speculation, of which only a handful was discussed here, that made conspiracy theorists crowd around the warm glow of their computer monitor in their parent’s basements. Many websites stated that this was a sign of the end times. Other sites thought that the video was just digital manipulation. This speculation was no match for the amount of science that poured in from news and educational resources such as Discovery News, National Geographic, Science Alert.com, Accuweather, CNN, and others that properly described this as Fata Morgana and even listed a number of very similar incidents that had piled up long before these two in China. However, Snopes declared this story as unproven and that many pieces of this story do not add up. Why it’s number 7: this was a very viral story that nearly everyone involved with the paranormal or science weighed in on. It was interesting to see the diversity of beliefs between the paranormal, UFO, and conspiracy websites and it brought to light their emotional reactions to stories like these. It also highlighted how many bloggers and news organizations continue to peddle stories like these without doing simple research and finding the reality behind them, this is why I do the Paranormal News Insider. While the story had a logical outcome and was nothing short of explainable it did highlight the beliefs of many of the world in the strange, anomalous, and just downright scary things that happen every day.

6. On March 10^th a strange video has surfaced from the jungles of Costa Rica, no, not of a dinosaur, but of an extinct bird.

The video, uploaded only to YouTube, shows an iguana in the foreground and then a strange bird poking around a fallen piece of tree in the background. The bird looks slightly familiar and as the 48 second video comes to an end the edited clip shows the bird walking directly in front of the green tinted scene; a bird that closely resembles that of the once living dodo. The video was purportedly taken by a photographer who had set up video to record animals at night, when I first debuted the story I stated it would be wise to doubt the video until further information shows up. Dodos were first mentioned in 1598 and were slowly hunted to extinction in the mid-1600s and ultimately became a mythological bird. Dodos were only found on the island of Mauritius (MAR-RISH-ISS) which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. So, how would one end up in Costa Rica? The dodo was used as food, similarly to pigs which were released on the island of Mauritius. The Dutch who controlled the island in that time most certainly took the bird for trade and may have released them on other islands, such as Costa Rica, as a food source. The dodo bird video made many people, including myself, hopeful that this video was real and that we could rediscover an animal thought extinct. The video was a bit fishy from the way it was shot to how most of it was in focus except for what we were hoping to see. However, on the morning of March 16^th I found part two of the video that showed the dodo bird move its beak off camera and return with a cue card with “I wish I was real” written in Portuguese. 

The video was created for a conservation team, a non-governmental organization known as Civil Association Alternative Terrazul, that was looking for some attention by using the extinct dodo to draw in the general public and then educate them on living species that are closing in on extinction such as jaguars, African elephant, golden lion tamarin, Amazon River dolphin, panda bear, black rhino, hawksbill sea turtle, blue whale, and others. The project was known as almost a dodo.

Why it’s in the top ten: nearly everyone involved with cryptozoology, zoology, and the paranormal was weighing in on this video. Many were confident this video was the real deal despite some of the shortcomings described about the blurry nature of it as well as the uncommon camera type and placement. This was an extremely viral video that the conclusion of which was not broadcast very much. Sadly, the message of this organization seemed to miss its mark even after drawing a much larger audience than they anticipated. Why it’s number 6: this was an extremely viral video that had many people believing this could be the biggest animal finding since the coelacanth. Despite the cheesy nature of the video as well as the reveal it has gone down as one of the most believable cryptozoological hoaxes in recent history.

5. The Charlie Charlie Challenge. Gravity will hurt you, but not with falling pencils.  What started out as a Spanish-speaking schoolyard game has morphed into the poor man’s, or lazy man’s, Ouija Board and a silly little game that seemingly can only work if you put it on your Vine.

A 17 year old girl in central Georgia apparently instagrammed her game using the hashtag  #CharlieCharlieChallenge and from there it gained a lot of momentum. As of May 26th the phrase had been tweeted over 2 million times and is getting more social media attention than any news event anywhere in the world. The trend started late on May 23^rd and built up on the 24^th and went strong for a couple of days. A Priest in Philadelphia wrote an open letter to those involved with the cult-like practice where he taught in a Catholic High School saying that "there is no such thing as innocently playing with demons." Little did he know, these demons actually work in Hollywood. The whole Charlie Charlie Challenge may have started out from trends in South America where this new version of a couple of older Spanish games were merged, but it ended up seeming like nothing more than a viral campaign for the movie “The Gallows” in which the main character of the movie, which whom it is bad luck to utter his name, is named Charlie. During the movie, and as highlighted in the preview at the previous link, they attempt to contact Charlie by using the same exact method in a short Spanish preview "La Horca" or "The Gallows." However, Snopes.com disagrees saying that this video was uploaded a day prior to the breakout of the Charlie Charlie Challenge and that the date discrepancy is enough to discredit this theory. 

Why it’s in the top ten: the Charlie Charlie Challenge was one of the most viral stories of 2015 on social media let alone one of the top stories in the paranormal. Many people were afraid of this while many others laughed this off as a child’s game despite the similarities to the Ouija Board yet this story got the attention of worldwide media well beyond social media. Why it was only number 5: it really did little to bring the paranormal out of the dark ages of belief and superstition. While the fear behind the Charlie Charlie Challenge finally subsided it was just another scar on the face of the paranormal belief engine and did little to create acceptance or discovery in the paranormal. It’s mere presence on this list is due completely to the viral nature of the story.

4. Harvey Robertson, a Scottish tourist, was on vacation with his family off the coast of Parga off the northwest coast of Greece. He was taking photographs with his iPhone of the color of the water while sailing through sea caves when he took a photograph of a strange creature. The photograph was making the rounds as expert after expert were stumped as to what the creature was.

Some felt this was a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale; some thought it looked like a manatee, a cuttlefish, or even some sort of hippo-dolphin morph. Then, the bubble was burst.  Zoologist Dr. Darren Naish of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton was the first to identify what he felt was truly in the picture. The strange creature was identified as nothing more than a half-sunken low freeboard boat fender. While so many people were contemplating what type of animal it was it seemed no one was willing to question whether it was even a real animal. I admit I was stumped and did my best to find a living creature to match, lesson learned. So did Mr. Robertson attempt to fool the general public? More than likely not. His photograph seemed to genuinely confuse him and if he did not see the fender when he took the photograph or view the picture to see the object he would have little reason to look for it afterward.  Still, there are many people who deny this logical explanation and feel that the animal is still out there. I’m sure it is and I hope someone finds that boat fender. 

Why it's in the top ten: This story went very viral and carried itself for nearly a week until the boat fender theory seemed to wash away the hope of finding a new mysterious creature in the waters off of Greece. Numerous experts weighed in on this story as it built momentum all over the world. Why it was only number four: despite being one of the top viral stories of the year the purported creature is more than likely just a boat fender. While this explanation is still being argued it is the most plausible. With it having no real impact on cryptozoology this story was only carried so far on the waves of popularity.

3. Misidentified Rocket Launches: Probably the biggest UFO story of the year, and definitely September, was actually very explainable. Dozens of videos and photos flooded the Internet on Wednesday, September 2^nd, especially in Florida where the Atlas 5

spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket had a $7.6 billion Navy satellite system that was launched into orbit. The launch took place just after 6 AM and seemed to take a lot of people off guard as the rocket and its exhaust trail became illuminated by the pre-dawn sun as it gained altitude. Even people who were told what it was didn’t believe it since the rising sun lit up the trail and made it very colorful. Twitter was going crazy from the tweets of people thinking there was an alien invasion or that the world was coming to an end.

On Saturday, November 7^th the west coast lost their minds this time as a rocket was launched from out in the ocean catching many off guard. Earlier in the week the military had flights that normally travel over water to avoid noise over southern California to be diverted back over land on that evening. The Orange County Sheriff’s office tweeted that the large fireball in the sky was in fact a missile launched from the USS Kentucky, an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine. Speculation and rumors were and still are flying that the missile was some top secret thing or perhaps it was a test flight of a UFO being covered up or maybe even some other unknown technology. Why these thoughts? Well, Government. Not to mention the fact that people were taken off guard by the launch as well as saw the ignition of the missile that puzzled many. The missile was actually a Trident 2 missile that was not armed. Despite much speculation it has been cleared up that this is nothing more than a routine shakedown of the recently refurbished submarine. 

On December 22nd another rocket was seen over the western skies that also went viral. This one turned out to be a Russian SL-4 rocket body that was reentering the atmosphere and was visible for around ten minutes.

Why it's in the top ten: these rocket launches got a lot of publicity, both for the mere sighting and some for their scientific merit, but also a lot of speculation and fear generated by those who didn't know what was going on. The September Florida launch generated a lot of UFO and end-of-the-world type of speculation while the Trident California launch generated that and also some Government conspiracy talk. Even the recent sighting was thought to potentially be an alien invasion, I wonder where that thought came from? Why it was only number four: despite being extremely viral and some tense moments generated by fear and misunderstanding, these were obviously explainable examples of man made objects.

2. Bigfoot captured on photo/video (again, and again...). 2015 has been the year that Bigfoot has made numerous headlines of being captured clearly on photos and videos for the first time, well, a number of times. The year started out with photos from Florida of a fisherman who fooled a few people with a horrible Photoshop attempt as well as from the Arizona Department of Transportation that submitted a photo they jokingly thought resembled a family of Bigfoot.

While some so-called investigators claimed to have witness testimony and tracks, those of us who did some simple research found out these were just trees that never moved from their position. We then had the Turner,Maine video that was peddled by Bill Brock since 2014. The entire case turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by a kid that fooled many experts who claimed the video was the best since the Patterson Gimlin Film. Bigfoot’s Russian cousin then made his appearance in the Adygeya Republic area of southwestern Russia in what is now called the snowy woods video. A team of scientists were in the area following up on sightings when they captured the video. Some say that this was merely a stunt to drum up tourism. The Bigfoot Field Researcher’s Organization then debunked the first video of the year shot at Lettuce Lake Park near Tampa, Florida. While many felt this was just a Photoshop attempt gone awry, it turned out to be a hoax to get attention and ultimately make it on Finding Bigfoot. Then, a very viral story; the sighting of a purported Bigfoot family stalking bison near the Old Faithful Geyser at Yellowstone National Park that turned out to just be a group of people. 

Why it’s in the top ten: while Bigfoot hoaxes are nothing new, this series of hoaxes all gained momentum within the first few weeks of 2015 making it feel like everyone was getting in on the action. A few of these stories remained in the circle of Bigfootery while others generated a lot of public speculation and were viral stories. While most of these were obvious hoaxes some did bring to question whether these represented the proof that the world needed in order to validate the existence of Bigfoot once and for all. Why it’s number two: it didn’t prove anything other than Bigfoot investigators can either be gullible or very clever in discovering hoaxes. Despite these stories owning the paranormal headlines for the first few weeks of the year one story trumped all others in being viral and stirring belief in the paranormal.
 

1. The number one Paranormal News Story of 2015 was also one of the most viral paranormal stories of the year. The story took place Friday, March 6^th in Spanish Fork, Utah.

A woman was driving home from her parent’s house in Salem, Utah to her home in Springville only 10 miles away. Sadly, around halfway to her destination 25 year old Lynn Groesbeck lost control of her vehicle, struck a cement barrier, and ended up in the Spanish Fork River with her 18 month old baby strapped into her car seat in the back of the vehicle. Nearly 14 hours later fishermen discovered the overturned car in the river and called police. As police and firefighters arrived they made their way to the vehicle unsure if anyone were alive. All five of the three policemen and two firefighters at the scene of the car purportedly heard the words, "Help me, help me now," from inside of the vehicle accompanied with screaming. This fueled the men’s efforts in getting into the car quickly and discovering the baby and bringing her to safety. Unfortunately, Lynn had died in the crash and the 18 month old girl named Lily was unconscious yet alive despite being only inches from the freezing water wearing no gloves or hat. 

Despite many people claiming this is a feel good story this is a very sad story that the young mother perished and that her daughter will not be able to grow up with her. Was this ghostly voice an example of a crisis apparition? A crisis apparition is described as someone who is about to, going through, or just went through the dying process is able to communicate to someone through unknown means. Granted, this could also be pareidolia, the sound of rushing water or other ambient noise in the background that made the men feel as though they heard someone in the car. One question I had was that if these officers were wearing body cameras with sound, why couldn’t we at least hear that few moments of audio? Obviously, the discovery of the driver, Lynn Groesbeck, who can be partially seen in previously released video, would be a bit gruesome and insensitive to show. Days after the accident part of the video on the body cam was released, but on March 14th a full 11 minutes and 45 seconds including the moment where the voice was supposedly heard around the 1:58 mark was put on YouTube.  There was a lot of yelling, talking including female voices, radio chatter, sirens, cars, rushing water, and more going on during the rescue. The female who worked on the infant inside the ambulance was seen standing only a few feet away. This information might be enough to discredit the men’s claims. Lynn Groesbeck's autopsy revealed that she had been using heroin and was under the influence of Clonazepam, THC, morphine, codeine and hydromorphone. A small bag of marijuana and tramadol were also found in the vehicle. 

Why it's in the top ten: this was the largest viral story dealing with ghostly phenomena all year and despite the evidence of a bystander potentially being the source of the voice there still exists a strong possibility this was in fact a voice from beyond death. Why it's number one: Despite the tragic end to Lynn's life the focus has always been on the luck of the survival of Lily. This story will always be remembered as a miraculous effort for a mother to save her baby from death from beyond the grave and has inspired many people to believe in the possibility of life after death.

Honorable mentions: I am still mesmerized by the "Merman in Poland" video that popped up in late September. Even though it was one of the strangest things to appear in the paranormal news the story disappeared a week after it came out despite no one really finding out what truly was going on. The #UFOSA story of a series of green UFO sightings in South Africa on November 28th was an extremely viral story that turned out to be a viral hoax. I had a soft spot for this since I discovered one of the photographs was fake prior to it being released that it was a gimmick for an energy drink. Despite their viral strength neither of these stories made it in the top ten in a year where the stories were all fairly weak compared to past years. I'll explore the top three stories since 2008 when I began doing the Paranormal News Insider in a future blog post.