Chuuk Lagoon

Tea Break Reading!

It is also known as Truk Lagoon, it is part of a protected reed and in 1944 the Americans launched an early morning attack on 17^th February. The Japanese intelligence had picked upon it and removed their largest war ships but Operation Hailstorm lasted for three days. It resulted in them sinking 12 warships, 32 merchant ships and destroyed 275 aircraft.

In 1969 the lagoon was explored and it is now a popular diving spot, it’s referred to as a Ghost Fleet and the ocean floor and sunken vehicles are gas masks, depth charges, human remains and many artefacts of interest. Alongside this is a wonderful variety of marine biology such as manta rays, turtles, sharks and corals. All of these sights, sand and life are part of what is classified as a Japanese Graveyard. Its eventual clean up for any fuel or environment threats will require the involvement of the Japanese Government.

Paranormal divers are a group that investigated it, they checked it out as other divers reported hearing the sounds of engines turning and starting up. Other mentions were of voices and the sounds like idling machines. There has even been an account of investigators picking up a human-like heat signature.

Birkdale Palace Hotel

Birkdale, Southport is in my home county of Lancashire and once had a luxury hotel that opened in 1866, was then demolished in 1969. During the Second World War it was used for US airmen as a rehabilitation centre, for that stage of it’s existence it was used as a film location.

It entered the interest for paranormal enthusiasts when a report came up 6^th May, 1969 in the Southport Visitor. A group of demolition workers claimed that the lift at the Old Palace Hotel was haunted. Jos Smith was heading up the demolition team and said that they had been woken up there by eerie voices and strange noises at night, and even more frightening the lift began to work by itself.

The lift’s power had been cut, the brakes were on and yet the four ton metal box continued to go up and down as it did when the building was operational. It was enough to unnerve hard workmen, worried by the lifts working they disabled it and cut the ties, they were then more concerned because it did not drop as it should have. In the end they hammered it on until it finally tell from the third floor.

The workmen had heard voices, the sounds of arguments and footsteps, they didn’t rule out that it could be down to people breaking in, but it would no doubt have been strange to hear. Southport Police also arrived one night as they’d received a call from a woman saying she was trapped inside. The police arrived to find that the phone-lines had been cut a significant time before then.

An urban legend about a ghost also came from the hotel, Ursula Wall was the architect and it is said she was on holiday when the foundations were laid back to front and therefore the hotel. Having seen the error she was so distraught she committed suicide, leaping down the lift shaft. It is however one of a few legends around her death and so not really confirmed.

There are other stories linked to the building, in 1961 Amanda Jane Graham was abducted by a hotel porter. The 6-year-old was murdered and found under his bed at the hotel. There is a rumour too about two sisters who carried out a suicide pact, and 14 deceased lifeboat men were temporarily laid out in its coach house. All these stories helped add to the haunted rumours.

The only surviving part id the coach house were the lifeboat men had been laid out to rest. The pub (as it now is) is called Fisherman’s Rest in their memory. It is also reportedly haunted and people have said that they feel as though they are being watched.

9^th December, 1886, a sailing ship, Mexico was driven ashore and the bodies of their fellow crewmen were viewed at the pub by the jury. Now the lost men are touchingly recalled by 14 small brass mermaids that hold the bar handrail in place.

By Jonmaddoxuk – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

 

Noppera-bo

In Japanese folklore the faceless ghost is usually known for frightening humans, but seem to be relatively harmless. The creature appears human, but this is an illusion, the faceless ghost has no eyes, nost or mouth, just smooth skin. Often the victim will speak to them for sometimes not realising until the Noppera-bo chooses to reveal it’s true nature. This naturally scares the witness who are often caught out by them on dark rural roads, sometimes they are mistakenly identified as mujina, which are thought to be badgers or raccoon dogs. Mujina are, in folklore, demons/yokai that shapeshift into the animals to deceive humans or take the form of attractive women and cause trouble in relationships. I’ve mentioned them in a basic intertwined way here for the sake of a coffee read.

One story of the legend is that a fisherman went to go fish at the Imperial Koi Ponds, near the Heian-Kyo palace, despite the fact his wife asked the he would not. The ponds were near a graveyard and considered to be sacred. He was also warmed by another fisherman, but being lazy and possibly arrogant he carried on.

At the spot a beautiful young girl tries to tell him not to fish (come on wife, fisherman, sexy lady? Take the hint!) but again he ignores the request. The beautiful woman then wipes off her face and the man rushes home in a panic. His wife is there, who confronts him, telling him off about his wickedness before she then wipes away her features too.

Perhaps this was the original slenderman and his story is an adaptation of this. A modernisation of an already fascinating tale.

Another modernisation of the tale is that of the animated film Spirited Away, the Japanese film features a creature “no face”. It is a 2001 one film, about coming of age and has been widely accepted as a wonderful piece, I admit I have seen it and highly enjoyed it. In the anime it is capable of responding to emotions and also ingesting people to gain their personality and their physical traits. By the end of the film this strange entity accepts an apprenticeship to stay on as an apprentice, this doesn’t seem to match the above but it seems like quite a lovely end to the fantasy story in the film itself.

May 19^th, 1959 a reporter called Bob Krauss for the Honolulu Advertiser reported on a sighting of a mujina at the Waialae Drive-In Theatre, Kahala. A woman was combing her hair in the women’s restroom and someone came up beside her, the witness at the time said that the mujina turned around to show the featureless face. The witness was said to be taken to the hospital for a mental breakdown but the story didn’t end there. An Hawaiian historian, folklorist, and author called Glen Grant did a radio interview in 1981 and called it out as a hoax but someone called into the show saying that they were that witness and proceeded to tell them something omitted by the article, that the woman had red hair.

Slenderman – Courtesy of Princekarr – Deviantart.

Palazzo Cá Dario

It is one of the most beautiful buildings over-looking the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy and it seems, according to some, that the building is cursed and leaves its owners on the streets, or worse still dead. The building is tilted to the left adding to the effects of the story and its beauty caught men such as Claude Monet and John Ruskin.

Pietro Lombardo built it in 1479 for Giovanni Dario, secretary of the Senate of the Republic of Venice. His daughter, Marietta, married into the Barbaro family and the building stayed in their hands until the 19^th Century. Before they sold it, back in that period, Dario lost power and suffered a financial collapse. Mariette fell into disgrace, rumours say she may have died from a broken heard or possibly committed suicide. Her father and husband died not long after she did.

Seemingly the curse came with the building and not the family, in the 19^th Century an Armenian diamond-dealer took ownership. Arbit Abdoll went bankrupt and died in disgrace. In 1832 a British Scientist, Rawdon Brown, took ownership and by 1842 was on the streets, committed suicide and so did his lover.

Sometime after Charles Briggs brought it and was forced to flee to Venice. He was charged with homosexuality, which as then a crime. After him was Henry De Reigner who fell ill two years after the purchase and went back to France. In the 1970’s Giordano delle Lanze was killed by this lover in one of the palace rooms.

Christopher (Kit) Lambert, the manger of The Who, brought it and died soon after in London of cerebral hemorrhage when he fell down the stairs at his mothers house. There are more but I will just surmise that it seems some unlucky folks have owned that house, or you can believe it is the curse. Today it is privately owned and not open to the public. 

You would also think I had a picture of this, considering I took a lot of random pictures there but no… turns out I could be the one person that went down the Grand Canal and snapped anything but haha!

Top picture is from Wikipedia the bottom ones are just some random bits I took on my travels.

Iain99 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Phreaking and Creepy Numbers

I did not misspell it, it is a slang term for people who like to explore, manipulate and study telephonic communications and of late has also grown close links with some who are interested in computer hacking. I’m showing more interest in the phones for the purposes of this but I have previously put up blogs about TV hijacks and might think about some interesting computer hacking events at some point.

It seems to have started around the late 1950’s in the USA, its peak really came in the 60’s and 70’s and most likely this is down to more people then knowing how the system worked. Prior to 1984 using a phone was quite the premium service, long-distance in some places was being on another street so frauding numbers “toll fraud” had a monetary worth. It was also used in the 1990’s for cloning pagers and an illegal act.

I’m not sure if this counts as phreaking but here in the UK I can remember in the early 90’s that there was a method to get a free call and it seems painfully silly in this more modern era. My step-father was an ex-navy chap who had this trick they had to contact mates nearby to arrange a quick way to get together. You called all your friends if you were the first there and if there were quite a few those 10 pence pieces would soon add up, so you covered the 10p on one side with tin-foil and called your friend.

As long as you only used the 10p at the end the coin would drop back out through the machine and you could do it again.

Previously I have mentioned phone calls supposedly received by the dead or around the point of death, but this is another subject and I will not go into that now. I think it might also fall under the electric phenomenon side as opposed to phreaking.

With the era of personal data being of very high importance, the digital age has highlighted a need for encryption and high personal security but that doesn’t stop people trying. I am going to reference some creepy numbers now because that’s what I like when I do these things!

Cleveland, Ohio – 1263331810 -this number has been attached for an event at a Nine Inch Nails concert, the supposed event was that a USB drive in a bathroom at a concert was found and a file that revealed a phone number. Calling it produced a supposed wire-tap recorded of a girl admitting to murder. It is pretty much a promotional set up for the band and is actually quite interesting as it plays into the creepy ARG vibe rather well.

Japan = 81-090-4444-4444 Sadako legend, it is of a cursed phone number and sends you to a set of terrible noises and the legend that something terrible will happen to you. Again this number coincides with The Ring film release and likely another promotional venture, but creepy and so I put it here for that reason.

Pakistan – Another interesting one, pretty sure this is an urban legend, is that in Pakistan numbers may flash up as calling someone in red. If the number calling shows up in red then people are told not to answer it, if you are foolish enough to ignore this warning you may end up the victim if a “Death Call” and a high frequency sound down the line will result in a brain hemorrhage. Side-note, this is flagged false by many sites an I am happy to agree with that. There is nothing scientifically based on this ideas that sounds emitted just could not kill you.

Bulgaria – 0888-888-888 is a telephone number in Bulgaria that has been actively terminated so it cannot be recycled. Vladimir Grashnov was the CEO of Mobitel, he died of cancer in 2001 and the number ended up assigned to Bulgarian Mafia Boss, Konstantin Dimitrov who was gunned down in 2003. From there on the number was passed to Konstantin Dishliev who was a crooked businessman and he was assassinated in 2005. Three men died and the number then ended. It seems to me less of a cursed mobile number and more a case of three corrupt people meeting their end.

So yes I’ve gone from old fashioned phone number cloning to promotional events and cursed numbers but I hope you enjoyed this delve down a rabbit hole. Have you any stories you would like to share?

Sources: nin.wiki , snopes and its forums, blog – theghostinmymachine, amino app, youtube, DailyMail.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk