Dr. Thomas Wilson Parry’s trephination:

Early examples of Dr. Thomas Wilson Parry’s trephination studies.

 In these examples he has used various tools to dig into the skull, such as a shark tooth, a drill and flint scraper. He also marks the results.

 These exhibits are from around 1913-1915. They are currently on display at a museum in England.

Read related articles: "Trepanning for art"

In 1970, 27 year old artist, Amanda Feilding, filmed and directed a project titled “heartbeat in the brain”. 

Feilding was an advocate for trepanning; an ancient practice which involved drilling or scraping a hole, usually into the skull, and exposing the thick membrane known as the Dura mater, to treat problems within the head...(continue)

The Hindu method:

A portrait and article from 1793 about a surgery performed on a 32 year old man named Cowasjee (or kawasji) in India. 

Cowasjee was taken prisoner while serving in the British army and ended up having his nose and one of his hands cut off, which was a usual form punishment in India at the time. 

A year later, a surgery was performed, a skin grafting process that came to be known as ‘the Hindu method’. Skin was taken from his forehead and shaped using a wax mold to construct a new nose. Europe began using this method soon after as it was superior to any surgery they had at the time.The article was written by two British doctors working in India. They detailed what they had observed and it was later printed in London.

Missing in Nepal:

Aubrey Sacco went missing in Nepal in 2010 during a lone trek through the Himalayas.

A self-described artist, traveler and yogi, Aubrey had been traveling alone through Asia and at the request of her friends and family, kept a record of her adventures in her travel blog.

Her couch surfing profile detailed an extreme case of wanderlust, and a project she had in works- a book she was compiling filled with the love stories of fellow travelers. “Tell me your stories!” she would excitedly ask people she met.

Aubrey set off on her journey across India, Sri Lanka and Nepal after finishing college, where she had earned a degree in art and psychology. She traveled to Nepal to volunteer teaching English, Art and yoga at a school.

She never neglected to keep in touch with her family, be it via video chat or email.

Nearing the end of her adventure, she decided to embark on one last trip; a ten day hike though Langtang, passing through villages that have since been wiped off the map at the hands of a devastating earthquake in 2015.

Before the disaster destroyed Langtang, the trek that Aubrey made was very popular among backpackers and travelers, who would walk along the footpaths from village to village, staying at small hotels each night along the way. The experience was a diverse one, and offered picturesque scenery in the form of lush greenery, snow-capped mountains, rope suspension bridges, local flora and fauna and bamboo forests. Certainly, the Langtang trip was on the list of any nearby traveler.

Despite this trip being traveled safely by many before her, Aubrey Sacco was never seen again.

Some theories suggest that Aubrey fell to her death, or possibly suffered at the hands of the young male soldiers who patrol the area and are known for harassing female travelers along the trek.

 Did Aubrey veer off the beaten path along roads less traveled?

Did she take refuge in one of the many monasteries concealed in the Himalayan Mountains during the countries shut down in 2010 due to the Maoist general strike?

The Socco family took to investigating the case themselves, doing investigators jobs for them. They felt the authorities didn’t care to solve the case and missing signs that they had put up along the trail were torn down, probably to protect tourism and local business.

Aubrey has not been located.

If you have any information on this case, please head over to the website. 

Aubrey's Travel blog [ X ]

Aubrey's website (with updates from her family [ X ]

Aubrey's couchsufring profile [ X ]

"Hiker Alert" safety app (in support of Aubrey) [ X ]

 Sources: Daily camera, aubreysacco.com

The Werewolf of Bedburg

I was on a bit of a werewolf kick today for some reason.

I watched a documentary on the history of werewolves (click here to watch it) and then I got interested in a case they mentioned, the case of the werewolf of Bedburg, and thought I'd do a quick write up of it.

Note: There is mentions of torture and death. 

Peter Stübbe, also referred to as Peter Stumpp, was a farmer in a rural village on the outskirts of Bedburg and was trialed as a werewolf in 16^th century Europe.

Although he went by many aliases, Stumpp may have been a name given to him by locals, on account of his missing left hand. The people of the village claimed that his hand had been severed while he was in the form of a beast. In another account a band of men who had been hunting the beast claimed to have tracked it, only for it to vanish. They found Stumpp soon after, and accused him of being responsible for a string of murders of both cattle and human.

Stumpp was accused of murdering and cannibalizing women and children and while being stretched on the rack, confessed to the alleged crimes as well as practicing black magic since childhood, and making a deal with the Devil himself in exchange for a belt, which when worn, allowed him to shape-shift into a rampaging wolf-like beast. To transform back into human state, he would simply remove the belt.

Faced with the threat of brutal torture, he further confessed to the murder and cannibalization of 14 children, one of which was his own son whom he was said to consume the brains of, as well as the murder of two pregnant women whose unborn fetuses were torn from their wombs. He also confessed to having incestuous sexual relations with his own daughter, as well as another distant relative and a succubus.

He was put on a breaking wheel, or a Catherine wheel, which was used for capital punishment up until around the 18^th and 19^th century. The victim’s arms and legs would be tied to the spokes, and they would be beaten until all their limbs were broken, or until death by bludgeoning.

In Stumpp’s case, the flesh was ripped from his body with red hot pincers and his legs broken to ensure that he could not return from the dead to seek revenge. His head was cut off  and hung as a warning to the community, to never dabble in the occult.

Finally his remains were burned.

(Image of a woodcut print of Stumpp's torture and execution from Wikipedia)

His Daughter was also sentenced to death; she was flayed and strangled along with a distant relative, with whom Stumpp was romantically involved with.

The information on the case, as well as the woodcuts depicting the torture and execution of Stumpp, were translated into English by Clergyman Montague Summers.  Summers believed in the occult and witches and werewolves and was also responsible for the Malleus Maleficarum, a witch hunters guide from the 15^th century.

The company of wolves  [X]

An eerie, nightmare of a film from 1984 about a girl who falls asleep and has haunting dreams of wolves. If you're not interested in watching the entire film, at least check out the transformation scene here [X]

Ginger Snaps (full movie) [X]

A movie from 2000 about two sisters who are both social outcasts who obsess over death. 

One of the sister gets bitten by a werewolf and receives the curse. 

Silver Bullet (Full movie) [X]

Based on "cycle of the werewolf" by Stephen King, starring Corey Haim. 

An american werewolf in London Transformation scene [X]

(Gif from the company of wolves) 

One little piece of theory I found on my travels was that werewolves were said to have an inverted pentagram hidden somewhere on their body. When human form, they were said to be hairy enough to hide the symbols, which would usually be on their chest, forehead or the palms of their hands. One theory of the pentagram on the hand, was that it served as a pointer, and that it was an indication of who the beast should kill next.

(Sources and references for this post : wikipedia and modernfarmer)

The Jinning county cannibal:

Zhang Yongming, also known as the cannibal monster, was responsible for the murder of 11 Jinning County men and boys in the Yunnan Province of southwest China, between 2008 and 2012. Although he had been convicted of murder and mutilation and sentenced to death in his mid-twenties, his sentence was reduced and he walked free from prison in 1997, where he was given a plot of land and a monthly cheque by the government to help him integrate back into society.  

Zhang Yongming just couldn’t seem to keep a lid on his blood lust, and eventually, would begin to kill again in 2008.

He would allegedly strangle his victims and cannibalize them before feeding the remaining flesh to his dogs, as well as selling it under the guise of ostrich meat at the local food market. What he could not sell off he would destroy by burning and burying in his vegetable garden. The cannibal monster was apprehended early May in 2012 after reports of missing males around a stretch of road nearby his house. Upon investigation of the property the police found items belonging to the final missing victim, 19 year old Han Yao, including credit cards and a cellphone. They also allegedly discovered plastic bags containing bones, dried and cured flesh and eyeballs preserved in jars which resembled traditional bottled snake wine.

He was executed in 2013 and showed no remorse for his crimes.

Sources:

[x]Xinhuanet.com

[x] TruTV.com

[x] wikipedia 

The Atlas Vampire case:

The Stockholm vampire case of 1932 is an unsolved case surrounding the murder of 32 year old Lilly Lindeström, who was working as a prostitute at the time.

Lindeström’s body was found by police on May 4^th 1932, at her modest apartment near Sankt Eriksplan.

 She was naked and face down on her bed, with her clothes folded on a nearby chair. The cause of death was determined as repeated blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

(Photosource: Wikipedia)

Her body had been drained of almost all blood, and police investigating the scene believed that the unknown killer had used a nearby bloody ladle to drink it, earning the killer the nickname of “The atlas vampire”.

Linderström’s known clients were questioned in regards to her murder; however no arrests were ever made.

The case remains unsolved.  

[X] Thegloria's Blog “The vampire murder” in Stockholm: I lived in that house”

[X] Wikipedia 

Who was Peter Bergmann?

I found out about an unknown man today and decided to write a post on him. The case reminded me of one of the earliest cases that got me into these unsolved mysteries: the Somerton man case, or the Taman shud case, as it is also known. (To read my post on the Somerton man click here << )

Both disposed of, or left behind their person items, both were found on a beach, both men are unidentified and were not found in their country of origin, they had both removed the labels out of their clothing. I'm not saying these cases are related in any way, of course.

 This case also reminded me of Lyle Stevik too, as both men checked into a hotel under an alias with the intention of seeing out their final days. (To read my post on Lyle Stevik click here<< )

Before you read this, there is mention of suicide and death. So please do not continue if this is a difficult subject for you to handle. Please alternatively select another post from the navigation bar above. 

If you are having suicidal thoughts, please contact the one following sources of help:

 [ X ] Samaritans (UK)

 [ X ] Papyrus (UK)

 [ X ] List of Hotlines (USA) 

[ X ] List of Hotlines (International)

On the 12^th of June 2009, at around 6:30pm, a slim, tanned man with short grey hair and a deep Germanic accent in his mid-fifties stepped off a bus at Sligo Mac Diarmada station, in County Sligo Ireland.  

He was wearing a black shoulder bag, similar to a laptop carrier and carrying a larger dark luggage bag.

From there, he took a taxi, destination Sligo city hotel, where he would stay for three nights at a cost of €65 per night, which he paid in cash. He had not pre-booked his stay. He filled out the necessary forms to check in, writing down “Peter Bergmann” as his name and “Ainstettersn 15, 4472 Wien, Austria” as his address.

Peter Bergmann would turn out to be an assumed alias and the provided address was nothing but an empty lot.  The name Bergmann is common in the Netherlands and is German or Swedish in origin.

The next morning, the unknown man dropped in at the post office to purchase a book of stamps as well as some air mail stickers. He wrote letters and dropped them into the post box for delivery.

The letters would never be recovered or tracked.

Throughout the duration of his stay at the hotel, the reception staff noticed that he would go out each time carrying a full plastic purple bag and return without it, or possibly concealing it in a pocket having disposed of its contents each day. They reported that he was constantly going in and out of the hotel.

He spoke very little with anyone around him, and kept to himself, usually just gesturing if he wanted something.

The following day, on June 14^th, he was taken by taxi to Rosses Point beach, after asking the driver to suggest a quiet beach that he could take a swim in. After surveying the location, he got back into the taxi and returned to the bus station.

(picture source here)

The next morning, June 15^th, a little after 1pm, Bergmann checked out of the Sligo city hotel. He no longer carried the dark larger luggage bag that CCTV had captured him wearing when he arrived, indicating that he possibly disposed of it and the contents over the course of his stay. He had with him a shoulder bag, a purple plastic bag as usual, and a black carrier bag. Forty minutes later he was captured on CCTV, eating a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and drinking a cappuccino and examining paper from his pocket before eventually boarding the 2:20pm bus to Rosses Point- the same beach the Taxi driver had taken him to the previous day.

Many beach goers noticed him that day. He was fully clothed, wearing a black leather jacket, and dark trousers rolled up to the knee. He was pacing up and down the beach, ankle deep in water, parallel to the ocean. An older couple described how the golden rays of the setting sun shone down on him as he walked. A twenty something couple greeted him later that night, and reported that he simply nodded to them in reply.

On the early morning of June 16^th, Arthur and Brian Kinsella found the man’s body. They were shocked by their discovery but managed to compose themselves and say a prayer for him before contacting the authorities.

The man had no ID, no possessions and the labels on his clothes had all been removed. Despite extensive searches of the local area, including dump sites, none of his discarded possessions turned up.

The autopsy showed signs of drowning. It also noted that unknown man had both prostate cancer and bone tumors, one previously removed kidney. There were no treatment drugs or pain killers in his system.

   

These stills are from a short film about the case, you can watch it here [X]

Chip-Chan and the Verichip:

Chip-Chan is an unidentified South Korean woman who was discovered on the / X / forum in 2008. 

She constantly streams her webcams live  online and claims that she is being stalked and controlled by a corrupt police officer, whom she refers to as “P”.

She claims that P wants to get his hands on the funds she inherited following the death of her parents, and that he can control her mind and sleeping schedules via a verichip that he has inserted in her body. Her streams show her sleeping for sometimes 15 hours at a time and rarely leaving her apartment.

Hand drawn signs in Korean are hung around the room, some asking the public for help, others insults and broken sentences.

Those who don’t believe Chip-Chan’s story offer paranoid schizophrenia as an explanation, others are not so sure.

She has various websites and blogs such as her blogs including:

Her Wordpress [X] 

Her Naver [X]

and her Wordpress about the Verichip [X]

Further / more detailed readings in English can be found in these blogs about Chip-Chan

Tumblr [X]   Blogspot  [X]

Her live stream can be viewed HERE << Click it

The butchered wife:

52 year old John Perry met his 20 year old wife, Arminda, at a bar during his vacation to the Philippines in 1984.

He was recently divorced and the attention and interest of a younger woman was a welcome distraction from the bitter breakup he’d just been through.

When she told him that she wished he wouldn’t leave at the end of his vacation he told her to come with him. They quickly married and the two lived together in John’s hometown in Wales.

The happiness of their holiday romance eventually faded into jealousy, paranoia and betrayal.

Arminda would not return to their marital home for days at a time, favoring the company of other men over her new 50 something husband.

John felt foolish and abandoned, and suspected his young wife had used him to escape her life back home.

After a particularly long period of absence, a worried neighbor of Perry called the local police to report the young woman missing.

When the police showed up to John Perry’s house and questioned him about the fact that he himself didn’t report the disappearance of his own wife, John bitterly informed them that she had probably just “run off with some other man as usual” and that they were already going through a divorce.

A thorough search of the marital home was not necessary to tie Perry to the crime.

When Police entered to look around bloody tools and knives lay out in the open. A book was open at the anatomy section; bloodied power tools and a hacksaw were set down near the sink.

Two large clear plastic zip lock bags filled with meat were on the floor and the foul stench of death hung in the air. There was more meat in two large barrels in the garage and even more in the trunk of Perry’s car.

John Perry confessed to the murder of his wife but claimed it was accidental. He also admitted that he had fed some of the flesh to his pet cat, Katie. He had told officers before the search that he intended to live alone with Katie and was no longer interested in relationships.

According to the pathologist, the cause of death was a blow to the back of the skull with a blunt object while Arminda was in the bath tub, despite Perry claiming that he had killed her in the living room.

He received a life sentence.

(sources: dailypost, myinforms )

[ X ] National domestic abuse helpline (USA) 

[ X ] Womens Aid (UK) 

Trepanning for art:

In 1970, 27 year old artist, Amanda Feilding, filmed and directed a project titled “heartbeat in the brain”.

Feilding was an advocate for trepanning; an ancient practice which involved drilling or scraping a hole, usually into the skull, and exposing the thick membrane known as the Dura mater, to treat problems within the head.

It was thought relieve pressure and often times was performed on people suffering from epileptic seizures and mental illness, as well as people with intense migraines and other problems. 

It was also believed that opening the skull could release demons and evil spirits as a literal medical exorcism.

In the film, Fielding, using a dentist’s drill, drills a hole into her own skull as a literal “opening of the mind”. 

The artist had dabbled in other forms of mind expansion such as meditation and taking LSD, but this was the first time she had decided to physically ‘open her mind’.

Following the procedure, she claimed in a later interviewwith Vice magazine that she just wrapped her head, ate a steak to replace any lost iron and headed out to socialize as usual.

She claims that she did not experience any negative effects, however although  possibly a placebic effect, she did note a drop in anxiety. 

(Sources: Wikipedia, cabinet mag, )

Am Fear Liath Mòr:

The Grey man, or “Am Fear Liath Mòr” as it is known in Scottish Gaelic, is a tall being completely covered in bristles of short grey hair that has been sighted by hikers and climbers around Ben Macdhui, the second highest mountain in the UK.

Despite being generally thought of as a paranormal creature, the big grey man of Ben Macdhui is often times thought of as Scotland’s answer to Bigfoot, some kind of hominid or likened to by some as a Woodwose or Wildman- a creature found in medieval European mythology and artwork.

The rational theory is that Am Fear Liath Mòr is simply the climbers own shadow, projected magnified in front of them and encircled by a halo of light on the cold misty surface of the mountain. It is generally referred to as a mountain spectre or brocken spectre.

(Sources: wikipedia, ghosttheory, newanimal, bigfootencounters)

Ada Blackjack, the castaway of Wrangel island:

After the loss of her husband in 1921, a 23 year old Iñupiat woman named Ada Blackjack was left without a dollar to her name. 

She handed over her son to the temporary care of an orphanage and joined an expedition to Wrangle Island, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea, serving as a cook and seamstress to the crew.

The team of 5 was left on the island, with the intention of claiming it in the name of Great Britain or Canada- unfortunately for them they were unable to hunt and gather enough food for sustenance after they depleted the rations that they had brought a long with them.

Some crew members attempted to leave the island, never to be seen again, leaving Ada and only one of the men behind.

The man eventually succumbed to scurvy, despite Ada’s attempts to nurse him back to health.

She was left completely alone on the island to fend for herself and survive in isolation in below freezing weather.

She survived as a castaway for 2 years, with only Vic, the pet cat of the expedition, as company.

She fought against freezing temperatures until 1923 when she was eventually rescued by one of the teams former colleagues, a man named Harold Noice, and was hailed “the female Robinson Crusoe” by the media- a fame which she rejected out of embarrassment. 

Although many went on to profit from her story, Ada never did.

(sources: ecu blog, wikipedia, googlebooks)

The deliverance euthanasia device:

This post contains mentions of euthanasia, suicide and death. Please select another post to read from the navigation above, or scroll past this content if you find the topics disturbing.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, please contact the one following sources of help.

 [ X ] Samaritans (UK)

[ X ] Papyrus (UK)

[ X ] List of Hotlines (USA)

[ X ] List of Hotlines (International)

Euthanasia has always been a hot debate. Maybe people disagree with the act of ending one’s own suffering no matter how miserable and undignified those last days of life can be. Many believe that throwing away the gift of life conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs. 

Others disagree of course, and believe that it’s a person’s right to die no matter what- Doctor Philip “death” Nitschke is one of those people, and an advocate for euthanasia. In fact, he is responsible for delivering death to four willing people between 1995 and 1996 in Australia.

Nitschke developed a software program called “Deliverance” which ran on a Euthanasia machine. The machine would ask questions that allowed the patient to confirm their willingness to end their lives. Eventually Deliverance would ask:

“If you press this button, you will receive a lethal injection and die in 15 seconds. Do you wish to proceed?”

At the push of a button, the user would receive a lethal dose of Barbiturates through an IV drip in their arm.

These days Dr. Nitschke runs a non-profit organization called “Exit International”, which aims to legalize euthanasia. In 2009 an article in the Guardian (UK) detailed concerns and controversy surrounding workshops the doctor had been holding around England, where he would show people how to die effectively. Through “exit international” he also manufactured a barbiturate-testing kit that would allow people who wanted to end their lives to test their methods and determine that death would be peaceful and effective.
The doctor stated that, by popular demand, the kits are sold on the organizations website, and the correct concentration of barbiturates is shipped without labels from a company based in Mexico.  As an alternative, their website provides a DIY guide.

This sparked controversy across England, and resulted in some of the workshops being shut down to protect vulnerable people from committing suicide.

Exit international has updated their “Deliverance” euthanasia device and came up with a design that requires no special skills to assemble and use. It’s a sort of DIY gas mask, made from a plastic bag and a tube, connected to a canister of pure Nitrogen.  It provides a quick and painless death, which allows the patient to fall unconscious within 12 seconds.

Nitschke believes that in some ways, putting control back in the hands of a terminally ill patient would actually prolong their life.

In 2015 he was banned by the Australian government and began to focus on his comedy career. Full details are available in an article here [ X ] 

(Sources: the guardian,  exit international, wikipedia,) 

UFO Kao Kala, The Thai UFO group:

Last month I bumped into an acquaintance of mine while at a bar with a couple of friends. He had been carrying a calendar around the whole night and we eventually got curious enough to ask what it was.

Hesitantly, he handed it over, and we took a look. At first it looked like a regular Thai Buddhist calendar, until you noticed that it had meditating women with UFO’s hovering above them, grey aliens and even the silhouette of ET from the Spielberg blockbuster.

He told us that he had just returned from a trip to Nakhon Sawan where he had attended a UFO meeting.

Nakhon Sawan, or “the heavenly city” as the name translates into English, is a province North of Bangkok, Thailand, and home to the Kao Kala Mountain, one of Asia’s biggest UFO hot spots.

In 1998, Sargent major Cherd Chuensamnuan, previously a monk, claimed that he heard an alien voice talking to him as he meditated. Allegedly, the voice brought a warning, telling him that there would be a disaster that would annihilate half of the Earth’s population.

He contacted his daughter, Somjit Raepeth, by telephone and told her about his experience, however was met by skepticism. In retort, she said she’d only believe when she saw it with her own eyes. “Send them over next time you see them” she would add.

Later Somjit would receive a phone call that would shake the foundations of her belief system:

“They’re coming over”

It was dark outside, Somjit and her sisters walked out onto the porch and turned their eyes to the sky and together they witnessed their first UFO. They described it as a large spinning disk, with a large amber light at the center, encircled by smaller lights around the rim.

Cherd Chuensammuan and his daughters are not the only residents in the area to have made contact with extraterrestrial beings. Many people have claimed to witness eerily silent crafts covered in blinking lights and have witnessed darting lights in the sky.

The UFO Kao Kala group practices meditation in order to make contact with the beings. Some members meditate for up to three hours per day and often do not make contact for upwards of a year. Through regular meditation they finely tune themselves to become human radio’s ready to receive transmissions from extraterrestrials. These messages are usually sub-missions that tie in to the main goal of saving half the Earths populace from devastation.

Somjit claims that the aliens they are in contact with are from both Pluto and a planet named “Lokukatapakadikong” (Loku) which is in another solar system and three times the size of Earth where the aliens get around via “jumping spots” spaced around 5 meters apart. They consume one pill per day as the only food they eat, which is made from a plant on their planet.

Members are often found clad in white, meditating near a statue of Buddha sitting before a Nāga snake at the foot of a hill in area 145, which is said to conceal the gateway to an alien dimension.

The members are trained by Somjit, following the death of her father in 2000. Some members quit their jobs in order to dedicate their time to receiving the alien messages that they say forewarn them of an upcoming disaster.

[ X ] Ufokaokala blogspot    

[ X ] Ufokaokala intro (English)     

(sources: UfoKaokala, Bangkok post) 

“Sugababe” by Diemut Strebe:

Artist, Diemut Strebe, with the help of a team of scientists, was able to make a 3D print of Van Gogh’s ear, using the DNA of a descendent of the painter. 

Van Gogh was thought to have cut off his own ear after a psychotic episode in the 1800’s, however in 2009 German historians presented a new theory, that fellow painter Paul Gauguin, who was also a fencer, had cut it off with a sword after an argument. They propose that the pair kept it quiet to avoid prosecution as well as to attempt to preserve their tumultuous friendship. 

With the DNA obtained from Lieuwe van Gogh, who is the great-great Grandson of Van Gogh’s brother, Theodorus, Strebe and the team created the piece, which was displayed at ZKM Karlsruhe Museum in Karlsruhe. There is an interactive element to the installation, a microphone that visitors viewing the piece can talk into. 

The sound travels through the Hoagland solution that the ear is suspended in and is translated into a simulated nerve impulse, which is amplified as broken static sounds. The question the piece poses is that of the Greek historian Plutarch’s “Ship of Theseus”, also known as “Theseus’ paradox”; where Pultarch asks “if you replace all the parts of a ship is it still the same ship?” The title is derived from an early 2000’s British pop band named “The sugababes” where the members are routinely replaced over time. 

Noam Chomsky was the first visitor to speak into the ear.

(Sources: Diemut Strebe, artnet, history.com)