#skeptics

[leasthaunted]

Episode 109: Let's Get Kraken

In the most recent episode, Cody and Garth dive into the deep waters to talk about Kraken! And in Garth's corner, he covers the art of figureheads (the sculptures of the front of ships)!

Enjoy the images discussed in the episode below (trigger warning: the last two images are of dead animals, there's no blood or obvious signs of distress but y'all deserve a warning nonetheless)! And please come join the episode discussion on the Least Haunted Discord!

Sorry for the late post, I was hunting for a lake monster!

The book Cody read for the episode: Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis.

The Swine Whale (left) and possibly Kraken (right) Carta Marina map of Scandinavia (1539).

Illustration by Denys de Montfort. Historie naturelle des Mollusques (1802).

In 1861 the French ship Alecton recovered part of a Giant Squid, Achiteuthus. This event would inspire Jules Verne when writing 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

A Scandinavian grapnel anchor, aka Krake, made from the top of a spruce tree.

"The Kraken" in 1981's Clash of The Titans, although a feat of stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, NOT A KRAKEN.

The Mollusk album by Ween. The inspiration for SpongeBob SquarePants according to show creator, Stephen Hillenburg.

They Might Be Giants album Apollo 18 limited edition Zoetrope vinyl! Only 240 were ever made, Cody has #195 and Garth has #196.

GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S FIGUREHEAD CORNER!

Here are some of the figureheads mentioned in Garth’s Corner. Special props to the YouTube Channel Baltic Empire for “Carved works and Figureheads: A History of Ship Decorations.” Garth also credits Chris Riley for his article “The History of Ship Figureheads.”

Here’s a carving of an elk’s head found in Säkkijärvi, Finland. It was made between 1750 and 1,500 BCE and is thought to have been attached to the front of a boat.

Some examples of Greek Ships with eyes.

The Oseberg Ship, a lavish ship that was buried in Norway some time in the 800s CE.

A model of the 80-gun Naseby (1655) showing Oliver Cromwell on a horse.

A mezzotint etching by Robert Sayer “Hercules as Ship's Figurehead” (1788).

A modern ship, Neptune, a replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon, originally built for the film "Pirates" (1986).

And finally, here’s an awkward mermaid Garth saw online. Not sure where he found it but here she is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trigger Warning Below ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dead Sperm Whale with squid scars on its skin.

Dying Architeuthis found in Toyama Bay, Japan 2015.

[beatnikbytes]

The Battle of Dong Den: Unraveling the Vietnam Rock Ape Bigfoot Myth

[pineapplerightsideupcake]

I feel like people that believe in ghosts/cryptids/supernatural stuff need to familiarize themselves with basic nature and science because a basic understanding of just about anything disproves this junk.

“I saw a huge furry create on two legs! It must have been Bigfoot!”

You saw a bear. It was a bear. The reason people all claim that Bigfoot stinks is because bears smell terrible. Bears often stand on their hind legs. Their footprints look vaguely humanoid. Bigfoot is just bears.

“I saw a creature that looked like some kind of emaciated and sickly deer with glowing eyes!!”

Your flashlight/headlights caught a sick deers eyes. You didn’t see a monster like a sick deer you just saw a sick deer.

“I heard screams of the undead from that field!”

Please google what animal sounds are in your area. Rabbits and foxes just to name a few make sounds that could easily be mistaken for human cries.

“My doors and windows shut by themselves! Wood creaks and I hear knocking/footsteps!”

You need to understand that houses shift and make sounds. Friction and moisture and air currents all change constantly. A window that stays shut when it’s humid may contract when it’s cooler and slam shut. AC vents may blow a door open. You’re hearing footsteps/knocking from impossible places because human ears are absolutely horrible at localizing sound.

“I saw something/a ghost/a demon in the shadows!”

Look up pareidolia.

“I saw a monster/ghost/demon right after I woke up!”

You experienced sleep paralysis

Like I am begging people to just learn about the world around them.

[tinfoil-hat-brigade]

I happened to run across a Twitter conversation last night about Harry and Meghan that just about made me vomit because it was exactly the same shit that’s been said by the haters about Benedict and Sophie over the last 9 years. It’s like they have templates where haters just swap out names. Meghan faked both pregnancies, Archie and Lillibet are rented children, they’re analyzing photos pixel by pixel to prove that they’ve been photoshopped, blah blah blah. 

The one tihng mentioned in the conversation that I saw before I just had to bail because it was so putrid is that Harry and Meghan bought a somewhat pricey bicycle for Archie from a local bike shop in Montecito. The shop’s owner spoke very positively about both of them, and apparently he’s now getting death threats. (Correction: The bike was actually a gift from the shop owner, which actually makes the fact that he’s getting death threats even more shitty, as if that were possible.)

Lunatic haters are everywhere. And their MO is always the same, driven by nothing more than jealousy, bitterness, erotomania, and in some prominent cases, mental illness.

I just want to add this: I live an hour north of Montecito, and I’ve heard or read absolutely nothing negative about Harry and Meghan. Not a single thing. Their privacy is respected, as it should be. Sorry if that busts the haters’ bubbles, but it’s the absolute truth.

[bandcampsnoop]

11/1/23.

John Halvorsen (Vorsen) was not part of the recent Bailter Space tour (Micah went to the SF show and said it was fantastic). But "A World On Fire" represents material from the early 1990s to the present. It definitely sounds like it was spawned from the sound of his three bands - The Gordons, Bailter Space and Skeptics. I would throw in Snapper as well.

But this really has an early to mid 1980s alternative sound too - think of The Chameleons UK, or early U2.

Leather Jacket Records is quickly earning a reputation as a label that brings us old New Zealand acts through reissues or new music. Halvorsen is from Wellington, New Zealand.

[blogparanormal]

https://ufostalker.com/

DOES 200,000+ UFO SIGHTINGS PROVE SKEPTICS WRONG?

211,873 allegedly seen so far world-wide have been reported. It appears most UFO sightings here are reporting what they have observed. There are very few obvious spoofers trolling making stuff up. There are also some very detailed UFO reports here too.

[captainjonnitkessler]

When I was a kid I had a book of like, "fun physics experiments for kids". And one of them was an "experiment" where you hold an object by a string and just by focusing on the direction you wanted it to swing, it would start to move in that direction even without your input. The book of course explained that this was the ideomotor effect, a phenomenon where your thoughts can create minute, unconscious movements in your body.

Then a couple years later I got a fortune-telling kit that included a pendulum. You hold the pendulum over a piece of paper that says "yes" and "no" and ask a question, and whichever way the pendulum moves is the answer.

At which point I was like "hey WAIT a minute", and in hindsight I think that experience explains most things about who I am as a person

[ghost-in-the-corner]

just as a general reminder

learn how to fact-check for yourself, cause soon enough, most online sources won't be reliable

[leasthaunted]

Episode 127: Duncan Do Nots

This time Cody tells Garth all about Ectoplasm! What is it? Where does it come from? Should you eat it? etc. And along the way tells the story of the last woman to be "tried for witchcraft" in The United Kingdom!

As always, please come join the episode discussion on the Least Haunted Discord!

Enjoy the images and videos below!

The Fox Sisters, "founders" of Spiritualism.

Charles Richet, Nobel Prize winning scientist and discoverer of anaphylaxis also a spiritualist who coined the term Ectoplasm, and the idea of "The Sixth Sense."

Medium Kathleen Goligher photographed with her ectoplasm "lever" that allowed her to move tables. Ectoplasm was said to come from the orifices and pores of psychic mediums.

Eva Carrier with ectoplasm face, 1912. The face was actually cut from a newspaper.

Unknown Male medium with ectoplasm.

Psychical Researcher and fraud exposer Harry Price. Harry Price took an interest in Ectoplasm and medium Helen Duncan in particular. He obtained a sample of her ectoplasm and found it to be made of a combination of egg whites, lavatory paper, and cheese cloth that she swallowed and then regurgitated during seances, or hid in her sinus cavity.

Ectoplasm with "Spirit" face conjured by Cody for the Least Haunted Podcast. A mixture of egg whites and toilet paper with a face cut from a newspaper. Just how physical mediums made theirs 100 years ago!

Victoria Helen McCrae Duncan (1897-1956), Scottish physical medium famous for her ectoplasmic conjurings.

Helen with some of her "conjured spirits" made from paper mache. The ectoplasm coming from her nose is egg whites, toilet paper, and cheese cloth.

Helen in her black frock séance outfit expelling ectoplasm.

GARTH'S CORNER! GARTH'S CORNER! GARTH'S CORNER!

Camille Flammarion. Astronomer, and father of modern speculative fiction, and possibly, accidentally responsible for scientology.

Camille working as a computer at the Societé Astonomie Francais.

Wood cut depicting a person gaining access to outside knowledge. First published by Camille Flammarion, but the original artist is unknown.

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Usa Today di Oggi martedì, 14 gennaio 2025

[benthejrporter]

Shermer Woos Up

New HPANWO Radio notice: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/01/shermer-woos-up.html

[tinfoil-hat-brigade]

So I just saw the news about Benedict and Sophie’s home being broken into by a disturbed man with a knife....

First thought was oh thank god they’re all safe and no one was hurt.

Second thought was are Gator and Aeltri claiming it was a false flag in order to gain sympathy and are they also having a shit fit because the article mentioned that Benedict and Sophie have 3 children?

And fuck the haters for causing me to have that second thought.