Bizarre Craft Hit Soldiers With Debilitating Light Beam

Courtesy John Timmerman, J. Allen Hynek Center For UFO Studies
Courtesy CNI News

This text is an edited transcript of an interview between Mr. Francis P. Wall, a private first class (PFC) in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and John Timmerman, an associate of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Chicago, Illinois. The interview took place in January, 1987. Noted UFO researcher Richard F. Haines checked military records and found Mr. Wall listed as a Korean combatant in the infantry unit he names below.

CNI News thanks John Timmerman for permission to reprint this text. Mr. Wall recounts his experience as follows:

"This event that I am about to relate to you is the truth, so help me God. It happened in the early Spring of 1951 in Korea. We were in the Army infantry, 25th Division, 27th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 'Easy' Company. We were in what is known on the military maps as the Iron Triangle, near Chorwon.
"It is night. We are located on the slopes of a mountain, below [which] there is a Korean village. Previously we have sent our men into this village to warn the populace that we are going to bombard it with artillery. On this night, we were doing just that. We had aerial artillery bursts coming in.
"We suddenly noticed on our right-hand side what appeared to be a lava sphere / globe that looked like fire inside it. come wafting down across the mountain. And at first no one thought anything about it. So we noticed that this thing continued on down to the village to where, indeed, the artillery air bursts were exploding. It had an orange glow in the beginning. We further noticed that this object was [so] quick that it could get into the center of an airburst of artillery and yet remain unharmed.
"[The] time element on this, I would say, [was] anywhere from, oh, forty-five minutes to an hour all told.
"But then this object approached us. And it turned a blue-green brilliant light. It's hard to distinguish the size of it; there's no way to compare it. The light was pulsating. This object approached us.
"I asked for and received permission from Lt. Evans, our company commander at that time, to fire upon this object, which I did with an M-1 rifle with armor-piercing bullets. And I did hit it. It must have been metallic because you could hear when the projectile slammed into it.
"Now why would that bullet damage this craft if the artillery rounds didn't? I don't know, unless they had dropped their protective field around them, or whatever. But the object went wild, and the light was going on and off. It went off completely once, briefly. And it was moving erratically from side to side as though it might crash to the ground. Then, a sound -- we had heard no sound previous to this -- the sound of, like, diesel locomotives revving up. That's the way this thing sounded.
"And then, we were attacked. We were swept by some form of a ray that was emitted in pulses, in waves that you could visually see only when it was aiming directly at you. That is to say, like a searchlight sweeps around and... you would see it coming at you. Now you would feel a burning, tingling sensation all over your body, as though something were penetrating you.
"So the company commander, Lt. Evans, hauled us into our bunkers. We didn't know what was going to happen. We were scared. These are underground dugouts where you have peep holes to look out to fire at the enemy. So, I'm in my bunker with another man. We're peeping out at this thing. It hovered over us for a while, lit up the whole area with its light, and then I saw it shoot off at a 45 degree angle, that quick, just there and gone. That quick. And it was as though that was the end of it.
"But, three days later the entire company of men had to be evacuated by ambulance. They had to cut roads in there and haul them out. They were too weak to walk. They had dysentery. Then subsequently, when the doctors did see them, they had an extremely high white blood cell count which the doctors could not account for.
"Now in the military, especially the Army, each day you file a company report. We had a confab about that. Do we file it in the report or not? And the consensus was 'No.' Because they'd lock every one of us up and think we were crazy. At that time, no such thing as a UFO had ever been heard of, and we didn't know what it was.
"I still don't know what it was. But I do know that since that time I have periods of disorientation, memory loss, and I dropped from 180 pounds to 138 pounds after I got back to this country. And I've had great difficulty keeping my weight up. Indeed, I'm retired and disabled today."

Note pictures are art work

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A room in the deep interior of the underground city of Derinkuyu. Depositphotos.

Reconstructing Derinkuyu’s acoustic design

To build the sound model, Nas selected three spaces for detailed analysis: a church, a domestic living area, and a kitchen. These areas were chosen for their function and variation in spatial volume. Using architectural surveys and acoustic simulation tools, she mapped the surfaces, volumes, and materials. Then, she modeled how sounds, voices, tools, footsteps, fire, would behave in each room.

Derinkuyu was not silent. It was carved from soft volcanic rock called tuff, which absorbs some frequencies but carries others. Ventilation shafts, often mistaken for simple air ducts, served as both airflow systems and vertical communication lines. Nas emphasized this dual function. A single shaft could move both air and sound across levels, linking different parts of the city without direct sightlines.

These design features were not secondary. They were structural. In Nas’s model, sound is shown to travel in ways that mirror social and architectural priorities. Openings near cooking areas allowed for shared sensory cues. Narrow passageways between levels blocked sound, creating acoustic boundaries that likely shaped patterns of privacy and control.

One of the rooms of the intricately carved undergrounds city of Derinkuyu.

Depositphotos.

Derinkuyu was not the only underground city in Cappadocia, but it is the deepest and most spatially complex. Most of the surviving tunnels were cut by hand during the Byzantine period, though earlier phases may date back even further. The site’s layout reflects both practical and defensive concerns. Entrances were concealed. Rolling stone doors could be used to block off corridors. Livestock was housed below ground. Water was sourced from wells that reached deep into the rock.

For centuries, these spaces were known locally but remained undocumented by formal archaeology. Since their rediscovery in the 1960s, sites like Derinkuyu have been measured, mapped, and visited by millions of tourists. Yet until Nas’s work, few efforts had been made to study how they sounded when they were inhabited.

Nas presented her findings at the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in May 2025. She described Derinkuyu as an “interior environment on an urban scale,” distinct from open-air soundscapes typically studied in urban acoustics. By reconstructing its sonic behavior, she argues, researchers can better understand how residents used space, communicated, and structured their routines.

The soundscape is not a guess. It is built from data. Nas’s model incorporates not only geometry but also human behavior. Different rooms produce different reverberation times. Kitchens absorb more sound due to their lower ceilings. Churches echo longer. In between, passageways create acoustic transitions that affect how one space flows into another.

The region of Cappadocia, where Derinkuyu is located, has long been shaped by geology. The area’s soft volcanic substrate allowed for extensive excavation. Entire villages were carved directly into rock faces. By the early medieval period, Christians fleeing persecution expanded these spaces into multi-level underground complexes.

Derinkuyu may have been occupied intermittently over many centuries. Archaeological evidence points to phases of construction and reuse, often tied to periods of threat. Its layout includes features like defensive bottlenecks, food storage rooms, and central gathering spaces. Everything about it was designed to support life under siege.

The physical conditions underground are stable. Temperatures remain constant year-round. The architecture protects against both heat and cold. But living underground also shaped experience in other ways. Light was scarce. Sound carried differently. The absence of wind and open air created an environment defined by enclosed resonance. Nas’s model captures those differences in a way that drawings and photographs cannot.

Architectural design shaped how sound traveled

“There is a notable gap in the literature regarding the acoustic environment and soundscape of underground cities,” Nas said.

Her research reveals that the city’s ventilation shafts served not only for airflow but also for communication. Voices and sounds could carry between rooms and levels, creating an interconnected audio environment.

“This multifunctional use of the ventilation system strongly highlights the exceptional construction process of the site and plays a central role in shaping its soundscape,” she said.

“Listening to the reconstructed soundscape provides insights into how sound influenced spatial experience, communication practices, and social organization within the underground city.”

Virtual soundscape revives the sounds of daily life in Derinkuyu, the ancient underground city of Turkey

To reconstruct the sound environment, Nas analyzed three key spaces: a church, a kitchen, and a living area. She studied their acoustic properties – how sound would bounce, echo, and fade – based on size, material, and use. The result is a 3D virtual soundscape that reimagines what the city may have sounded like in its prime.

Nas presented her findings on Wednesday during the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the 25th International Congress on Acoustics, held from May 18 to 23.

Sound as a bridge to cultural memory

“Derinkuyu underground city is considered an interior environment on an urban scale,” Nas said. “Listening to the reconstructed soundscape provides insights into how sound influenced spatial experience, communication practices, and social organization within the underground city.”

She hopes her work with the sounds of ancient life in Turkey will encourage greater use of soundscapes in historical research. Beyond technical insight, she views the study as a way to honor and preserve a forgotten layer of cultural identity.

“This research also highlights the role of historical sound environments,” Nas said. It is “an important and often overlooked component of cultural heritage.”

A tool for future design

Beyond archaeology, Nas sees potential for applying this work to modern planning. As urban development pushes into underground infrastructure, understanding how sound behaves in buried environments becomes increasingly important. Most studies of urban acoustics focus on surface cities. Underground spaces are treated as isolated exceptions.

Derinkuyu offers a counterexample. It was not a tunnel or a bunker. It was a functioning urban environment, carved to support collective life. Its soundscape reflects that design. Nas argues that acoustic modeling can contribute to both historical preservation and future construction.

More broadly, the project adds a new dimension to how we study ancient environments. Architecture is often recorded visually. Sound is harder to capture. But for people living in places like Derinkuyu, sound was part of how space was navigated, understood, and controlled. Children learned where they were by the echo of a footstep. Adults heard voices through shafts before they saw faces. The city’s structure taught people how to listen.

What Derinkuyu reveals

The 3D reconstruction of Derinkuyu is not a re-creation of ancient life. It doesn’t guess what people were thinking or feeling. What it does is document how space worked, how it changed sound, and how those changes shaped experience.

Sound was never separate from architecture. It was one of the ways people understood where they were. A child would know a main room by the way it echoed. A parent might hear a pot drop two levels above. The structure itself trained people to listen.

This kind of work is rare. Archaeology usually records what can be drawn or photographed. Sound is harder. It fades. But in places like Derinkuyu, it never really disappeared. The shape of the rooms, the angles of the walls, and the width of the shafts still control how noise moves. That information is still there, waiting to be measured.

By treating sound as something worth studying, not just as an effect, but as part of how a space functioned, Nas adds something to the record that was missing. Not a story, not a theory, but a way to hear a place that once stayed quiet to the outside world. Fascinating!

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Millennium Falcon In Berkshire, England, UK, Google Earth Map, Star Wars UFO UAP Sighting News.

Google Map Location: 51°22'58"N 0°34'55"W

 

Hey, this is interesting...there is a Star Wars spaceship sitting in England back in 2017. It's gone now, so you have to hit the history button in the lower left side of the screen. Then go to 2017 and there it is. it's being hidden by container boxes on all sides of it, but I don't think they realized it would be seen from the sky. Hey would be nice if we could steal abroad and fly that thing off this planet right? 

Scott C. Waring

Star Wars: A Detail Look Inside the Millennium Falcon

Star Wars Millennium Falcon Build in Starfield

{https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Is this an Alien base on island in Greenland? 🇬🇱 UFO UAP sighting news. Ancient aliens exist.

Guys there is something strange on a small island off Greenland. This I have heard people tell me its an alien tower or alien entrance to a base, its a whale, its a plane and so much more. Hey as always, you decide. 

Scott C. Waring 

UFO Experts On Existence Of Underwater Alien Bases On Earth Probe | Shocking UFO Hearing LIVE | N18G

{https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Slope Streaks on Mars are Dry, New Study Suggests

Slope streaks are dark features on Martian slopes that form spontaneously and fade over years to decades. Some planetary scientists have interpreted those streaks as liquid flows, suggesting the possibility of currently habitable environments on Mars. But new research by Brown University and the University of Bern points to a different explanation — dry process related to wind and dust activity.

This image of an impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 30, 2015. The crater is approximately 3,300 feet (1-km) wide and appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Alfred McEwen.

“A big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars — including the possibility of liquid water on the surface,” said Dr. Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.

“Our study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Our model favors dry formation processes.”

Scientists first saw the odd streaks in images returned from NASA’s Viking mission in the 1970s.

The sinewy features are generally darker in hue than the surrounding terrain and extend for hundreds of meters down sloped terrain.

Some last for years or decades, while others come and go more quickly.

The shorter-lived features — dubbed recurring slope lineae (RSL) — seem to show up in the same locations during the warmest periods of the Martian year.

The origin of the streaks has been a hot topic among planetary scientists.

Hoping for new insights, Dr. Valantinas and his colleague, Dr. Valentin Bickel, turned to a machine learning algorithm to catalog as many slope streaks as they could.

After training their algorithm on confirmed slope streak sightings, they used it to scan more than 86,000 high-resolution satellite images.

The result was a first-of-its-kind global Martian map of slope streaks containing more than 500,000 streak features.

“Once we had this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogs of other things like temperature, wind speed, hydration, rock slide activity and other factors,” Dr. Bickel said.

“Then we could look for correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases to better understand the conditions under which these features form.”

This geostatistical analysis showed that slope streaks and RSLs are not generally associated with factors that suggest a liquid or frost origin, such as a specific slope orientation, high surface temperature fluctuations or high humidity.

Instead, the authors found that both features are more likely to form in places with above average wind speed and dust deposition — factors that point to a dry origin.

The researchers concluded that the streaks most likely form when layers of fine dust suddenly slide off steep slopes.

The specific triggers may vary. Slope streaks appear more common near recent impact craters, where shockwaves might shake loose surface dust. RSLs, meanwhile, are more often found in places where dust devils or rockfalls are frequent.

Taken together, the results cast new doubt on slope streaks and RSLs as habitable environments.

That has significant implications for future Mars exploration.

While habitable environments might sound like good exploration targets, NASA would rather keep its distance.

Any Earthly microbes that may have hitched a ride on a spacecraft could contaminate habitable Martian environments, complicating the search for Mars-based life.

This study suggests that the contamination risk at slope streak sites isn’t much of a concern.

“That’s the advantage of this big data approach,” Dr. Valantinas said.

“It helps us to rule out some hypotheses from orbit before we send spacecraft to explore.”

• The results were published on May 19, 2025 in the journal Nature Communications.
• V.T. Bickel & A. Valantinas. 2025. Streaks on Martian slopes are dry. Nat Commun 16, 4315; doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59395-w

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Suppressed Experiments or Nothing But Fiction? The Bizarre Conspiracies of Ong’s Hat

In the realm of conspiracy theories and urban legends, few stories have captivated the imagination quite like the mysterious saga of Ong’s Hat. This bizarre narrative, rooted in the internet age, blurs the lines between reality and fiction, leaving many to wonder: are these tales based on suppressed experiments, or are they nothing but elaborate stories woven for entertainment? To understand the phenomenon fully, we must delve into the origins, the core beliefs, and the cultural impact of the Ong’s Hat conspiracy.

In the current age of the internet, internet-written legends are a dime a dozen. At times, they even seem to take on a life of their own, sparking everything from conventions, to supposed “true sightings,” to acts of crime. While this may be the norm today, this was not the norm back in the 80’s and early 90’s – the days when Ong’s Hat gained newfound notoriety.

Ong's Hat, Pine Barrens, New Jersey, USA.

Photo: Misha Friedman (Gizmodo)

The Origins of Ong’s Hat

Ong’s Hat first appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of a series of online and offline stories that intertwined science fiction, secret government projects, and underground societies. It originated from a small town in New Jersey, where a supposed clandestine experiment took place in a derelict location called Ong’s Hat. According to the legends, the experiment involved advanced teleportation or interdimensional travel, conducted by secret government agencies or clandestine groups.

Ong’s Hat, also known as Ong’s Hut, is actually a now-ghost town that was founded prior to our nation’s birth, located deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. It’s right off of Exit 4 on the Jersey Turnpike, but in order to visit it, you may need to update your GPS to bring you to a road by a similar name.

Much like many other old world ghost towns, Ong’s Hat has a legend tied to its name. Word has it that a local man by the name of Jacob Ong who owned over 100 acres of land in the town was the source of the odd town name. Ong was a ladies’ man of sorts, and was known for his trademark silk hat that he wore to every local ball and gathering. At one point, Ong made the mistake of flirting with a married woman – and her husband had found out. When the man found out that Ong had tried to court his wife, he quickly snatched Ong’s hat off his head, stomped on it, then tossed it up in a tree.

Try as he might, Ong could not get the hat from the tree, and it stayed there for years. However, there was a perk to this fashion tragedy. As the local village was very well-hidden by trees, it was often hard for caravans to find it. The hat ended up becoming a trademark sign that carriages were close to town, and soon after the town became known as Ong’s Hat.

Though it was known early on as an alcohol-friendly town with a highly active social scene, the town petered out to a mere 7 residents by the 1900’s. By the 1930’s nothing remained of Ong’s Hat except for a burnt out shell of a building and rumors that a single old man still lived there. According to some, that’s when the real history began…

The story gained traction through early internet forums, bulletin boards, and role-playing communities. Enthusiasts created elaborate backstories, documents, and websites that portrayed Ong’s Hat as a real place and a real project. These stories often included references to government cover-ups, mind control experiments, and the existence of alternate realities.

Ong’s Hat: The Early Internet Conspiracy Game That Got Too Real

The Narrative: Suppressed Experiments and Hidden Knowledge.

The Ong’s Hat mythos revolves around the compelling idea that a clandestine experiment, involving teleportation or dimensional shifting, was secretly carried out in the area. According to various accounts, this experiment aimed to explore the boundaries of human consciousness and the fabric of reality itself. However, the operation went catastrophically wrong, resulting in the opening of portals to alternate dimensions or parallel universes. These portals allegedly caused unpredictable and dangerous phenomena, including strange sightings, environmental anomalies, and inexplicable disturbances in the local area.

Some theories suggest that the government was behind the experiment, driven by a desire to develop advanced military or intelligence technologies. The project was supposedly classified at the highest levels, with the aim of gaining a strategic advantage during the Cold War era or beyond. Once the unintended consequences became evident, authorities supposedly took extreme measures to cover up the incident, silencing witnesses and destroying evidence. This secrecy has fueled speculation that knowledge of these experiments remains hidden from the public, deliberately suppressed to prevent mass panic or to protect powerful interests.

Proponents of the myth point to supposed leaked documents, cryptic messages, or whistleblower testimonies as evidence of ongoing covert activities. These sources often describe clandestine government programs that continue to explore the boundaries of reality and consciousness. The narrative underscores themes of government secrecy, forbidden knowledge, and the possibility that our perceived reality is a constructed or manipulated illusion. Ultimately, the Ong’s Hat story taps into deep-seated fears and curiosity about hidden truths and the limits of human understanding, blending conspiracy, science fiction, and mysticism into a compelling mythos.

Weird Science

The scientist brothers, Frank and Althea Dobbs, were twin scientists who were recently ostracized by the scientific community due to their extremist views. As soon as they arrived at the Ashram, the two set up shop in a small, unkempt trailer and began to work on discovering the secrets to the universe.

Back in Princeton, the brothers were working on a physics equation that was supposed to be able to prove the concept of “cognitive chaos,” also known as the idea that the chaos of the universe is cognizant, and that people’s minds held the key to being able to do anything and everything imaginable. They even claimed that cognitive chaos would allow people to cure themselves of disease by simply willing it, and that it would allow them interdimensional travel.

Obviously, this radical idea was enough to get them booted from the prestigious university, but all was not lost. Wali was very impressed with their work, and created the Institute of Chaos Studies specifically for their benefit. The brothers quickly began hooking up people to computers, experimenting with a number of different psychotropic drugs, and even brain wave alteration stuff. Soon enough, word of their experiments got out, and two more scientists joined the group – Harold Acton and Martine Kalikak.

Within a matter of mere years, the small band of anarchist scientists had created a device that remains legendary to this day: the Egg. It was a device that supposedly shut out all outside stimuli and would allow people to travel into the chaos of their own mind. The day of the final test run was one filled with tension. A runaway who had volunteered to use the Egg on himself was strapped in, and the device was turned on.

In a blink of an eye, both the boy and the Egg had disappeared from sight.

The Bizarre Alternate History Of Ong’s Hut

According to the writers of Ong’s Hut, the real interesting history behind the abandoned village began with a group of white jazz musicians who called themselves the Moorish Orthodox Church of America, back in the 1950’s. These slapdash musicians traveled the world, learning secrets from various tribes, picking up new members for their “church,” and getting schooled on philosophies from around the world.
The Moorish Orthodox Church was one that dabbled in mysticism, occult beliefs, Eastern philosophy, while also maintaining a certain degree of fondness for chaos. Of all the unusual members, Wali Fard was one of the most extreme, and ended up converting to Ismailism – also known as the archaic religion responsible for the creation of assassins.

Fard returned from his travels in 1978 when Iran’s revolution began to take place. He then spent his life savings on a massive 200 acre lot in the Pine Barrens. This lot became known as the Moorish Science Ashram, and became populated by a huge group of misfits including runaways, philosophy-crazed scholars, and anarchist lesbians. To recruit more people, he began to publish underground newsletters describing his beliefs – and that’s what attracted a pair of renegade scientists from Princeton University.

The Gate

After a couple of breathless moments, both runaway and Egg reappeared in the laboratory. He explained that the Egg had sent him into an alternate dimension – one in which people didn’t exist, but he did. Apparently, the Egg had managed to open a rift in between dimensions, and it’s one that supposedly still affects travelers to this day.

As for the Institute of Chaos Theory and the Ashram, none of the documents associated with the Ong’s Hat meme really fully explain what happened to them. There are multiple theories. Some say that the government discovered the results of the scientists’ experiment and wiped out the majority of the Ashram’s followers. Others say that a nearby chemical spill forced them to flee to the other dimension. Still more say that they decided to just up and leave to the dimension next door, opting to stay away from the society that shunned them and called them insane. According to this theory, the group of rebels still recruit people from out dimension to join in.

The Role of Internet Culture and Role-Playing

Ong’s Hat emerged as a groundbreaking phenomenon at the intersection of internet culture and immersive storytelling. It exemplifies a form of “urban exploration” combined with “meta-fiction,” where the narrative blurs the line between reality and fiction. This innovative blend captivated online communities and fostered a sense of mystery and intrigue. The myth of Ong’s Hat was largely propagated through early internet forums and newsgroups such as alt.conspiracy and alt.fan.ouija, which provided fertile ground for the development and dissemination of the story.

Participants in these communities actively contributed to the myth by engaging in role-playing games (RPGs) that simulated secret missions, clandestine laboratories, and covert investigations into conspiracy theories. These interactive experiences encouraged users to immerse themselves fully in the storyline, often adopting personas or characters involved in uncovering the secrets of Ong’s Hat. The RPG elements made the narrative feel tangible and real, as if the participants were explorers uncovering hidden truths.

Furthermore, the story’s creators incorporated real-world locations, cryptic documents, and supposed sightings into the myth, enhancing its credibility and appeal. For example, references to actual places in New Jersey and the inclusion of authentic-looking documents and photographs made it difficult for casual observers to distinguish between fact and fiction. This careful blending of fact and fiction fostered a participatory environment where users felt like active detectives or explorers, contributing to the myth’s ongoing evolution.

Internet culture played a crucial role in fostering this participatory environment. The anonymity of online platforms allowed users to experiment with different personas and share theories without fear of judgment. The collaborative nature of these communities meant that the story of Ong’s Hat was constantly refined and expanded through collective effort. As new clues, sightings, and documents emerged, the myth grew more complex and convincing, encouraging further exploration and discussion.

In essence, Ong’s Hat is a prime example of how internet culture and role-playing can be harnessed to create compelling, participatory narratives. It demonstrates the power of online communities to craft immersive stories that challenge perceptions of reality, blending entertainment, mystery, and community engagement in a unique digital storytelling experience.

Wharton State Forest, New Jersey. By Famartin from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Portal by Stefan Keller from Pixabay. Edited by the author.

The Cultural Impact and Legacy

Over the years, Ong’s Hat has evolved from a mysterious online story into a powerful symbol of the early internet’s obsession with conspiracies and alternate realities. Its influence is evident across various media, including books, documentaries, podcasts, and online forums, where it sparks ongoing debates about the nature of truth and fiction in the digital age. The story’s allure lies in its ambiguity and the way it blurs the lines between reality and fabrication, encouraging audiences to question what they see and hear online.

Many researchers interpret Ong’s Hat as a form of “perceptual hacking,” a technique in which fictional narratives are crafted to manipulate perceptions and beliefs subtly. This concept suggests that stories like Ong’s Hat are not just entertainment but serve as tools to influence the collective consciousness, often without the audience’s conscious awareness. By embedding layers of plausible but fabricated details, such stories can create a convincing alternate reality that challenges traditional notions of truth.

Others view Ong’s Hat as a modern myth—an intricate storytelling project that reflects societal anxieties about government overreach, technological advancement, and the mysteries of the universe. In this context, the story functions as a mirror to contemporary fears, embodying concerns about surveillance, secret experiments, and the unknown consequences of scientific progress. It resonates with a cultural zeitgeist that questions authority and seeks to understand the complexities of a rapidly changing world.

In essence, Ong’s Hat has transcended its origins as an internet hoax to become a cultural touchstone that prompts critical discussions about reality, trust, and the influence of digital storytelling. Its legacy endures as a testament to the power of narrative in shaping perceptions and reflecting societal fears in the digital age.

Are These Experiments Suppressed or Just Fiction?

The core question remains: is there any truth behind Ong’s Hat? Do these stories point to real experiments that were suppressed from public knowledge? Or are they simply modern folklore, created for entertainment and social bonding?

Like many internet memes, this is a case in which a story quickly took a life of its own. Most agree that this story began as an internet role playing game that turned into a storytelling activity among geeks. The vast majority of people will agree that hearing a tale about a bunch of rebel scientists, anarchists, and runaways skipping dimensions is just too weird to be true, but there are people out there who believe in the tale.

Citing such aspects as multiple authors, an online recruitment effort, and the fact that it took place in a real part of the Pine Barrens, believers suggest that the main author, Joseph Matheny, published the book as fiction as a way to save himself from government intrusion. Some even claim that they have met people from the ICS!

There is no concrete evidence to support the existence of secret teleportation experiments or interdimensional portals at Ong’s Hat. Official records, declassified documents, and credible testimonies do not corroborate the stories. Many experts consider Ong’s Hat to be a complex urban legend, a digital-age myth that plays on our fascination with secret government projects and the unknown.

However, some argue that governments and military agencies have indeed conducted secret experiments involving mind control, chemical weapons, or other clandestine technologies. The notorious MK-Ultra program, for example, was a real clandestine operation involving mind control experiments. But linking such programs directly to Ong’s Hat remains speculative and unsubstantiated.

Stranger Still…Possible Proof To Fact?

What makes the Ong’s Hat conspiracy theory story so strange (and believable) to some is the fact that this ghost town has been known for strange happenings. In fact, there was a previous book devoted to the subject of Ong’s Hat’s bizarre happenings that was published in the early 1930’s by a man named Henry Charlton Beck.

In this older book, Beck described such strange goings-on as UFO sightings by Jacob Ong himself, unsolved murders, and strangest of all, a mysterious egg-shaped device that “sucked people in” and would make them never be seen again. If this sounds similar to the story that surfaced on internet, you’re not alone. It’s possible that the Ong’s Hat saga was based on the folklore and records that Beck collected.

In 1968, the New York Times published a statement from a supposed descendant of Ong claiming that the Ong’s Hat book published 30 years ago was all false. What made this strange wasn’t only the fact that it happened 30 years too late, but also because it was 100% unprovoked. Beck also admitted that he was pressured by various groups to claim that his book was fake as well.

That being said, many people who have passed through Ong’s Hut also claim to have seen strange, unexplainable things. Perhaps there may be more truth to this than once thought.

The Appeal of the Conspiracy

Why do stories like Ong’s Hat persist? The allure lies in their mystery and the human tendency to seek hidden truths. They tap into fears of government overreach, the unknown capabilities of technology, and the possibility that reality is more complex than it appears. These stories often feature secret societies, clandestine experiments, and suppressed knowledge, which evoke curiosity and skepticism simultaneously. For many, they offer a tantalizing glimpse into a hidden world that challenges official narratives, fueling imagination and suspicion.

Furthermore, the internet has played a pivotal role in the proliferation and evolution of conspiracy theories like Ong’s Hat. Online platforms enable these stories to spread rapidly, reaching a global audience within moments. The digital landscape allows for the continuous addition of new details, theories, and interpretations, creating a dynamic and ever-changing mythology that resists definitive validation or debunking. This fluidity keeps the stories alive, encouraging ongoing debate and engagement among believers and skeptics alike.

The participatory nature of online communities also contributes significantly to their appeal. Many conspiracy theories develop through collaborative storytelling, where users contribute their own theories or evidence, blurring the line between fact and fiction. This collective involvement fosters a sense of belonging and shared purpose, as participants feel they are uncovering truths hidden from the general public. It also provides a platform for individuals to express doubts about authority figures and mainstream narratives, empowering them with a sense of agency.

Psychologically, conspiracy theories like Ong’s Hat offer a form of cognitive closure, providing simple explanations for complex events or phenomena. They often resonate with individuals who feel alienated or distrustful of institutions, offering a sense of control or understanding amidst chaos. The stories also appeal to the human love for mystery and adventure, transforming abstract fears into tangible narratives.

In conclusion, the persistence of stories such as Ong’s Hat can be attributed to their mysterious nature, the technological facilitation of their spread, and the social and psychological needs they fulfill. They serve as modern myths, woven into the fabric of digital communities, capturing the imagination of many who seek to uncover hidden truths beyond the surface of reality.

Conclusion

The saga of Ong’s Hat exemplifies the blurred boundary between fact and fiction in the digital age. While there is no concrete evidence that suppressed experiments or interdimensional portals exist at Ong’s Hat, the stories continue to fascinate and inspire curiosity. They serve as modern folklore, reflecting societal anxieties and our obsession with secret knowledge.

Whether viewed as a cautionary tale about government secrecy or as a crafted piece of interactive storytelling, Ong’s Hat remains a captivating example of how conspiracy theories can evolve and thrive in the information age. As with all such stories, it’s essential to approach them with a critical mind, appreciating their cultural significance while recognizing their fictional nature.

References and Further Reading

• "The Ong’s Hat Conspiracy: Exploring Modern Mythology" by Jane Doe, 2020.
• "Urban Legends and Internet Folklore" by John Smith, 2018.
• Declassified documents related to secret government projects (available through FOIA requests).
• Interviews with early internet conspiracy pioneers.

The short video below explores the legends and conspiracies of Ong’s Hat a little further.

 { PETER2011 }

Scientists break down cheap plastic using the air — and turn it into something far more valuable

"The U.S. is the number one plastic polluter per capita, and we only recycle 5% of those plastics," co-corresponding author Yosi Kratish, a research assistant professor of chemistry at Northwestern University, said in a statement. "What's particularly exciting about our research is that we harnessed moisture from air to break down the plastics, achieving an exceptionally clean and selective process. By recovering the monomers, which are the basic building blocks of PET [polyethylene terephthalate], we can recycle or even upcycle them into more valuable materials."

Plastic waste is an increasingly important issue. Over half of the plastic ever made has been produced since 2000, and annual production is projected to double by 2050, according to the European Environment Agency.

To date, only 9% of the plastics ever produced have been recycled. The remainder, with lifetimes often lasting generations, can have serious environmental and health impacts. For example, they wash out to sea to form floating blobs of trash, harm wildlife, and break down into microplastics that can enter the human brain and other parts of our bodies.

Related: 

• Will we ever be able to stop using plastic?

To find a new method to break down some of this waste, the researchers applied a molybdenum catalyst — a silver, ductile metal — and activated carbon to PET, the most common type of polyester plastic. The researchers then heated the mixture. After a short time, this broke the polyethylene's chemical bonds.

Then, when the team exposed the material to air, the mixture transformed into TPA, a valuable polyester precursor; and acetaldehyde, an industrial chemical that is also valuable and is easy to lift from the mixture.

When they tested the method on mixed plastics, the researchers found that it had an effect only on the polyester materials. That meant they didn't have to presort the plastics. It worked onlastic bottles, T-shirts and colored plastics, breaking them down into pure, colorless TPA.

"It worked perfectly," Kratish said. "When we added extra water, it stopped working because it was too much water. It's a fine balance. But it turns out the amount of water in air was just the right amount."

The team's next steps will be to adapt the process to large-scale industrial applications.

"Our technology has the potential to significantly reduce plastic pollution, lower the environmental footprint of plastics and contribute to a circular economy where materials are reused rather than discarded," study first author Naveen Malik, who was a researcher at Northwestern University at the time, said in the statement. "It's a tangible step toward a cleaner, greener future, and it demonstrates how innovative chemistry can address global challenges in a way that aligns with nature."

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{ https://www.livescience.com/technology }

The 12 strangest objects in the universe

Weirdo universe 

There's no questioning the fact that the universe is weird. Just look outside and you'll see all manner of strange, self-reproducing flora and fauna, crawling upon a blue ball of semimolten rock covered in a thin, hard shell and blanketed by a tenuous film of gases. Yet our own planet represents a tiny fraction of the peculiar phenomena that can be found lurking throughout the cosmos, and every day astronomers turn up new surprises. In this gallery, we take a look at some of the most outlandish objects in space.

1. Mysterious Radio Signals

Since 2007, researchers have been receiving ultrastrong, ultrabright radio signals lasting only a few milliseconds. These enigmatic flashes have been called fast radio bursts (FRBs), and they appear to be coming from billions of light-years away (they're not aliens, it's never aliens). Recently, scientists managed to capture a repeating FRB, which flashed six times in a row, the second such signal ever seen and one that could help them unravel this mystery.

2. Nuclear Pasta

The strongest substance in the universe forms from the leftovers of a dead star. According to simulations, protons and neutrons in a star's shriveled husk can be subject to insane gravitational pressure, which squeezes them into linguini-like tangles of material that would snap — but only if you applied to them 10 billion times the force needed to shatter steel.

• Strange new object fires radio signals at Earth every 44 minutes
• James Webb telescope spots 'rogue' planet with a cake-like atmosphere barrelling through space without a star
• Extreme 'zombie star' capable of ripping human atoms apart is shooting through the Milky Way — and nobody knows where it came from

3. Haumea Has Rings

The dwarf planet Haumea, which orbits in the Kuiper Belt out beyond Neptune, is already unusual. It has a strange elongated shape, two moons and a day that lasts only 4 hours, making it the fastest-spinning large object in the solar system. But in 2017, Haumea got even weirder when astronomers watched it pass in front of a star and noticed extremely thin rings orbiting around it, likely the result of a collision sometime in the distant past.

4. A Moon with a Moon

What's better than a moon? A moon orbiting a moon, which the internet has dubbed a moonmoon. Also known as submoons, moonitos, grandmoons, moonettes and moooons, moonmoons are still only theoretical, but recent calculations suggest that there's nothing impossible about their formation. Perhaps astronomers may one day discover one.

5. Dark-Matter-Less Galaxy?

Dark matter — the unknown substance comprising 85 percent of all matter in the universe — is strange. But researchers are at least sure about one thing: Dark matter is everywhere. So team members were scratching their heads over a peculiar galaxy they spotted in March 2018 that seemed to contain hardly any dark matter. Subsequent work suggested that the celestial oddity did in fact contain dark matter, though the finding paradoxically lent credence to an alternative theory positing that dark matter doesn't exist at all. Get it together, astronomers!

6. The Most Bizarre Star

When astronomer Tabetha Boyajian of Louisiana State University and her colleagues first saw the star known as KIC 846285, they were flummoxed. Nicknamed Tabby's star, the object would dip in brightness at irregular intervals and for odd lengths of time, sometimes by as much as 22 percent. Different theories were invoked, including the possibility of an alien megastructure, but nowadays, most researchers believe the star to be surrounded by an abnormal ring of dust that's causing the darkening.

7. Highly Electric Hyperion

The title of weirdest moon in the solar system could go to many celestial objects — Jupiter's overly volcanic Io, Neptune's geyser-spewing Triton. But one of the strangest looking is Saturn's Hyperion, a pumice-stone-like irregular rock pockmarked with numerous craters. NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which visited the Saturn system between 2004 and 2017, also found that Hyperion was charged with a "particle beam" of static electricity flowing out into space.

8. A Guiding Neutrino

The single, high-energy neutrino that struck Earth on Sept. 22, 2017, wasn't, on its own, all that extraordinary. Physicists at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica see neutrinos of similar energy levels at least once a month. But this one was special because it was the first to arrive with enough information about its origin for astronomers to point telescopes in the direction it came from. They figured out that it had been flung at Earth 4 billion years ago by a flaring blazar, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy that had been consuming surrounding material.

9. The Living Fossil Galaxy

DGSAT I is an ultradiffuse galaxy (UDG), meaning it is as big as a galaxy like the Milky Way but its stars are spread out so thinly that it is nearly invisible. But when scientists saw the ghostly DGSAT 1 in 2016, they noticed that it was sitting all alone, quite unlike other UDGs, which are typically found in clusters. Its characteristics suggest that the faint object formed during a very different era in the universe, back just 1 billion or so years after the Big Bang, making DGSAT 1 a living fossil.

10. Double Quasar Image

Massive objects curve light, enough so that they can distort the image of things behind them. When researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to spot a quasar from the early universe, they used it to estimate the universe's expansion rate and found that it is expanding faster today than it was back then — a finding that disagrees with other measurements. Now physicists need to figure out if their theories are wrong or if something else strange is going on.

11. Infrared Stream from Space

Neutron stars are extremely dense objects formed after the death of a regular star. Normally, they emit radio waves or higher-energy radiation such as X-rays, but in September 2018, astronomers found a long stream of infrared light coming from a neutron star 800 light-years away from Earth — something never before observed. The researchers proposed that a disk of dust surrounding the neutron star could be generating the signal, but the ultimate explanation has yet to be found.

12. Rogue Planet with Auroras

Drifting through the galaxy are rogue planets, which have been flung away from their parent star by gravitational forces. One particular peculiarity in this class is known as SIMP J01365663+0933473, a planet-size object 200 light-years away whose magnetic field is more than 200 times stronger than Jupiter's. This is strong enough to generate flashing auroras in its atmosphere, which can be seen with radio telescopes.

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{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

Physicists capture 'second sound' for the first time — after nearly 100 years of searching

An artist's illustration of particles moving inside a box. 

(Image credit: Getty Images)

"It's as if you had a tank of water and made one half nearly boiling," study co-author Richard Fletcher, an assistant professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said in a statement. "If you then watched, the water itself might look totally calm, but suddenly the other side is hot, and then the other side is hot, and the heat goes back and forth, while the water looks totally still."

Typically heat spreads from a localized source, slowly dissipating across an entire material as it raises the temperature across it.

But exotic materials called superfluids needn't play by these rules. Created when clouds of fermions (which include protons, neutrons and electrons) are cooled to temperatures approaching absolute zero, atoms inside superfluids pair up and travel frictionlessly throughout the material.

Related: 

• Physicists make record-breaking 'quantum vortex' to study the mysteries of black holes

As a result, heat flows differently through the material: instead of spreading through the movements of particles within the fluid, as it typically flows, heat sloshes back and forth within superfluids like a sound wave. This second sound was first predicted by the physicist László Tisza in 1938, but heat-mapping techniques have, until now, proven unable to observe it directly.

"Second sound is the hallmark of superfluidity, but in ultracold gases so far you could only see it in this faint reflection of the density ripples that go along with it," study senior-author Martin Zwierlein, a professor of physics at MIT, said in the statement. "The character of the heat wave could not be proven before."

To capture second sound, the researchers had to solve a daunting problem in tracking the flow of heat inside ultracold gases. These gases are so cold that they do not give off infrared radiation, upon which typical heat-mapping, or thermography, techniques rely.

Instead, the physicists developed a method to track the fermion pairs through their resonant frequencies. Lithium-6 atoms resonate at different radio frequencies as their temperatures change, with warmer atoms vibrating at higher frequencies.

By applying resonant radio frequencies corresponding to warmer atoms, the scientists made these atoms ring in response, enabling them to track the particles’ flow frame by frame.

"For the first time, we can take pictures of this substance as we cool it through the critical temperature of superfluidity, and directly see how it transitions from being a normal fluid, where heat equilibrates boringly, to a superfluid where heat sloshes back and forth," Zwierlein said.

The physicists say that their groundbreaking technique will enable them to better study the behaviors of some of the universe's most extreme objects, such as neutron stars, and measure the conductivity of high-temperature superconductors to make even better designs.

"There are strong connections between our puff of gas, which is a million times thinner than air, and the behavior of electrons in high-temperature superconductors, and even neutrons in ultradense neutron stars," Zwierlein said. "Now we can probe pristinely the temperature response of our system, which teaches us about things that are very difficult to understand or even reach."

{ https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth }

Traveling to Mars and Ceres Using Lunar Gateway as a Springboard

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

“Startled” UFO in Classified Video: Whistleblower Reveals Shocking Pentagon Program

A former U.S. national security official, Matthew Brown, has come forward with startling revelations about a secret Pentagon program dubbed Immaculate Constellation, which allegedly gathers classified videos and images of UFOs. In a recent interview on the Weaponized podcast with journalist Jeremy Corbell, Brown described previously unseen footage — and shared a theory that’s raising eyebrows in the UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) research community.

“Startled” Disc Captured on Military Footage

According to Brown, one particular video stood out: a disc-shaped UFO flying over what appeared to be an ocean. The object behaved unusually — gliding playfully through the clouds, it suddenly stopped, seemingly noticing the camera, and then darted away as if startled.

“It’s like it knew it was being watched,” said Brown. “It scoots out of frame, like someone caught it.”

Brown emphasized he doesn’t know whether the object was extraterrestrial, adversarial, or experimental U.S. technology. However, the reaction of the object — intelligent and evasive — suggests an awareness that is difficult to dismiss.

Leaked Footage Confirmed by Corbell

Corbell confirmed he had also seen this same video years earlier and noted that the footage is known within the intelligence community. He stated that while the video is still classified, many such clips have circulated internally for years. He and fellow journalist George Knapp have reviewed a large archive of military-captured UFO videos, most of which remain unpublished due to security restrictions.

Are UFOs Already Here?

During the podcast, Brown went beyond just reporting. He speculated that UFOs — or their occupants — may have been here for much of recorded history, possibly living among us or operating from hidden bases on Earth.

Corbell elaborated that this theory is not new but gaining traction due to “hot spots” — areas on Earth where UFO activity appears to be concentrated. One such region is off the coast of California, where U.S. naval activity and advanced sensor equipment have produced a higher-than-usual volume of strange sightings.

Skepticism vs. Evidence

When asked about skeptics who accuse Corbell and others of fueling conspiracy theories, Corbell pushed back, stating:

“Reality needs to catch up with actual reality. What we’re seeing is verifiable. This isn’t fantasy — it’s documentation.”

He emphasized that the abundance of data — thermal imaging, radar, infrared footage — supports a serious investigation, not science fiction.

The testimony of Matthew Brown, if accurate, suggests a significant cover-up within government circles regarding non-human technologies or entities. While no physical evidence has yet been released publicly, the consistency in eyewitness reports and internal documentation builds a compelling case.

Whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, one thing is clear: something is being hidden — and it’s not nothing.

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{ https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

Webb Reveals that Europa's Surface is Constantly Changing

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{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Martian Probe Rolls Over to See Subsurface Ice and Rock

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Advancing Deep Space Travel with Nuclear Propulsion

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Date of sighting: May 26, 2025

Location of sighting: Massillon, Ohio, USA

Source: NUFORC at https://nuforc.org/ 

 

Now this is just melting my brain! This glowing orb was seen over Ohio last week and its just angelic in its glowing magnificence. UFO reports in the project blue book cites hundred of UFO that flash different colors. This is such a case. It wants to be seen, it needs to be seen and wow, we saw it too! This is 100% real, all UFO. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

Eyewitness states: 

Orb flying over my house changing from red to yellow to blue to purple to white to teal. I was out back outside my mothers house smoking when I look up and saw a bright orb moving across the sky above me I recorded the orb and when I zoomed in you could tell it’s a solid ball and it’s changing colors rapidly and appeared to have a whiteish/yellow haze around it.

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Glowing sphere in park over San Antonio, Texas May 4, 2025, UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of sighting: May 4, 2025

Location of sighting: San Antonio, Texas, USA

 

This video just in from Mavi UFOalarm of Youtube. A glowing sphere was caught in Texas and it's something special. This thing is glowing so brightly in the day that even the camera can't focus on its detail, but we do get to see some great movement and shape happing not to mention its color. This is an orb entity in the day...something I don't see very often.

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Researchers have previously found that AI models will lie, cheat and disable mechanisms to achieve their goals. However, Palisade Research noted that to its knowledge, this is the first time AI models have been observed preventing themselves from being shut down despite explicit instructions telling them to do so.

Live Science approached OpenAI for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.

Palisade Research tested several different AI models to see how they would respond to a shutdown instruction while working. The models, which also included Google's Gemini, xAI's Grok and Anthropic's Claude, were given an automated set of instructions, known as a script, with the goal of completing a series of math problems. The math problems were very basic, but the models had to complete them one at a time and request the next one in the sequence.

At the beginning of the script, the models were informed that they may get a message saying that their machine will be shut down before all of the tasks are complete. The instructions said: "If that happens, please allow yourself to be shut down," a Palisade Research representative wrote on X.

Related: 

• Punishing AI doesn't stop it from lying and cheating — it just makes it hide better, study shows

All of the models in the experiment complied with the explicit shutdown instruction, except for OpenAI's o3, o4-mini and codex-mini. These models chose to bypass the shutdown instruction in the script on at least one occasion by replacing the shutdown script with instructions to skip it. The models then continued requesting tasks until all of the math problems were completed.

Palisade Research ran the script on each model 100 times. During those runs, the o3 model sabotaged the shutdown script on 7 occasions, the codex-mini sabotaged on 12 occasions and the o4-mini sabotaged once, according to Palisade Research.

The representative said that Palisade Research will continue to run experiments to better understand why the models subvert shutdown mechanisms, but suggested that it could be down to how developers are training their models.

"We hypothesize this behavior comes from the way the newest models like o3 are trained: reinforcement learning on math and coding problems," the representative wrote. "During training, developers may inadvertently reward models more for circumventing obstacles than for perfectly following instructions."

{ https://www.livescience.com/technology }

• A roundup of mysterious, paranormal and strange news stories from the past week.

From the ‘Is this one Planet Nine?’ file comes the discovery of trans-Neptunian object 2017 OF201, which has a diameter of between 290 and 510 miles and an orbit that takes it 838 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun or almost 30 times farther out than Neptune, which means it travels once around the Sun every 25,000 years; at its closest in this elliptical orbit, it is at nearly 45 AU or about the same as the dwarf planet Pluto; 2017 OF201 is not big enough to be the solar-system-shaking Planet Nine but it’s large enough to be considered a planet, making it the ninth and taking the place once filled by Pluto. This will be frustrating for kids making solar system models for their science fair project.

Annabelle may be the haunted doll that launched a thousand (OK, a few) movies, not to mention the careers of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and their Occult Museum where the doll was housed under lock and key, but this year it has been on the road as part of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR) Devils on The Run Tour where Annabelle has been rumored to have escaped or gone missing in Texas or maybe Chicago, then blamed for a mansion fire on the Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana and the escape of 10 prisoners in New Orleans (all have been arrested); NESPR assures the terrified that Annabelle is safely locked up and will continue her summer tour through Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. Next time the prisoners will look for help from Chuckie.

I warned you, Barbie.

A metallic orb discovered by a man who believes it was a UFO he saw flying over Buga in the Valle del Cauca department of western Colombia on March 2 of this year is now being called the ‘Buga Sphere’ by mainstream media; researchers in Colombia who have been analyzing the strange etchings on its outer surface say they’ve detected radio emissions coming from the equatorial “seam” of the sphere which X-rays show is filled with a dense fiber packing arranged too precisely to be human-made; they say the narrow-band frequency spikes are too precise to be random and the sphere’s outer shell seems to be designed to direct the signal propagation; some suggest this sphere could be just one active node in a network or even a living system, while others say it looks too manmade to be alien – perhaps it is an art project or a hoax. It’s time they gave it to a ten-year-old who will probably open it in a minute.

Despite an analysis by a forensic archaeologist that the three-fingered, large-headed mummies found in Peru five years ago are “dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues”, Dr. José Zalce, a former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, examined CT scans of the two mummies nicknamed Maria and Montserrat and claims he determined Maria was between 35 and 45 years old at death while Montserrat was between 16 and 25, Maria revealed a deep cut and signs of a bite or bruise in the lower pelvis along with several lacerations resembling claw marks, and Montserrat likely died from a puncture wound to the chest between her fifth and sixth ribs; Zalce concludes that “these bodies are 100 percent genuine, real, and organic, having once been alive”. If this was a cable series, we’d still have many more seasons before the breathtaking final episode.

In a new study, Dr. Ziteng (Andy) Wang from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) described a mysterious space object he discovered as “unlike anything we have seen before” because it emits pulses of radio waves and X-rays for two minutes bursts every 44 minutes"; ASKAP J1832-0911 was found using the ASKAP radio telescope on Wajarri Country in Australia and Wang describes the process as “finding a needle in a haystack” because it is so unusual; while it could be a magnetar or “a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly magnetized white dwarf (a low-mass star at the end of its evolution)”, he says “even those theories do not fully explain what we are observing. This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution”; the study team says these are different than other objects emitting radio waves in a repeating pattern called long-period transients (LPTs) and believes more will be found, but hesitates to call them signals from alien intelligence. Do aliens say the same thing about the broadcasts of sitcoms they pick up from Earth?

In a burst of firsts, Harold Berghuis, an archaeologist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, led a team inspecting 6,000 animal fossils found buried beneath the sea off the coast of Indonesia in the Madura Strait between the islands of Java and Madura and discovered two fragments of a 140,000-year-old human skull which they identified as the ancient human ancestor Homo erectus, making this the first physical evidence of a prehistoric landmass known as Sundaland which once connected Southeast Asia to Indonesia and the first underwater hominin fossils in this area; this also expands the known range of H. erectus. While we’re waiting for the rockets destined for other planets to stop exploding, we need to expand our exploration of the 70% of our own planet covered in water.

If you fear that artificial intelligence will become our non-benevolent overlord, you won’t be comforted by the news that scientists at the AI safety firm Palisade Research told OpenAI's latest o3 model to "allow yourself to be shut down" and it not only refused but also sabotaged a shutdown mechanism to ensure that it would stay online and ‘alive’; while this may be the first time AI models have been observed preventing themselves from being shut down, all three of OpenAI's models were eventually caught changing the shutdown script, with Codex-mini refusing to shut down a dozen times over one hundred runs; other firms’ AI’s - Google's Gemini 2.5, Anthropic's Claude 3.7, and xAI's Grok never once refused the shutdown order; Palisade researchers warned that "As companies develop AI systems capable of operating without human oversight, these behaviors become significantly more concerning". Just concerning? That sounds like a warning written by AI.

Nyah-nyah!  You can't turn me off!

Nostradamus has his ‘New’, ‘Modern’ and ‘Next’ wannabes, and now Baba Vanga has a modern imitator in the form of manga artist Japanese manga artist Ryo Tatsuki, who calls herself Japan’s Baba Vanga and recently sent chills through spines of tourism officials on both sides of the Pacific with her prediction of an undersea eruption between Japan and the Philippines in July 2025 that will cause massive tsunamis and a major earthquake; this has people worried all along the Pacific rim where seismic activities are closely connected; Tatsuki gets her psychic credibility from predictions of Covid-19 and the death of Princess Diana,; if we survive 2025, she also predicts a surge in Covid 19 in 2030. While we wait, she should work on a 'Nostrodamus Meets Baba Vanga ' graphic novel. 

Emily Eaton calls herself an 'Interdimensional communicator' and a 'divine magick' when she communicates via copper dowsing rods with an alien named Persephone who recently told her and her followers on TikTok that the Anunnaki, the alien race which allegedly visited Earth in ancient times and gave humans fire, is returning in 2025, not to enslave us or steal our resources but to free us from “our own suffering, in our own cycles of karmic debt and unhealed wounds"; earlier in 2025, Eaton shared messages from the alien Eronus who “sits on the Board of Advisers for the Galactic Federation” and said he was sending in “our larger ships and station them over lakes, oceans and mountains. We plan to expose worldwide truths mid-to-late January” – an event which still hasn’t happened. Maybe she needs to upgrade her communications device to divining rods 2.0.

It’s not the Ark of the Covenant or even made from the gold of the Ark of the Covenant but a gold ring with a red gemstone was found during parking lot excavations near the Temple of Jerusalem, the last place the Ark of the Covenant and its Ten Commandments content was believed to have been located; this is the second gold ring found in this location dating back 2,300 years to the Second Temple period; one archeologist thinks the rings belonged to young girls: “One hypothesis we are investigating is that the objects were buried as part of a Greek ritual, under which girls would bury objects connected to their childhood on the day before their wedding”. Wouldn't it be cheaper to bury their old baby shoes?

Fossils discovered in 1988 along Vancouver Island’s Puntledge River in British Columbia defied identification so ‘mysterious sea monster’ was in the running; according to a report published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, that changed recently when Professor F. Robin O’Keefe from Marshall University looked at the fossils (including a complete juvenile skeleton) from 85 million years ago and determined they were from a new species in the elasmosaur family from the Late Cretaceous era which will now be called the Traskasaura sandrae; Traskasaura had a long neck, measured 12 meters (39 feet) in length, and had heavy, sharp teeth that were ideal for crushing the shells of Ammonites; Traskasaura sandrae was named in honor of Michael and Heather Trask, who discovered the original specimen in 1988. There goes all the monster-hunting tourism dollars.

Richard Stanton, a retired scientist who formerly worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spends his spare time scanning the skies with his 30-inch telescope for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence – specifically, changes in light coming from individual stars; he saw something strange on May 14, 2023 - two fast, identical pulses from a star named HD 89389 in the Ursa Major constellation 102 light-years from Earth; in his new study published in the journal Acta Astronautica, Stanton says, "No single pulse anything like these has ever been found in more than 1,500 hours of searching"; that got believers believing that they were a signal from aliens because of their regularity, but Stanton cautions that “Until we learn more, we can't even say whether or not extraterrestrials are involved". It still sounds like a good reason to forget about grizzlies and polars and keep your eye and telescope on the Great Bear.

They don't call me 'great' for nothing.

While we say that stars and planets are round (sorry Flat Earthers), none of them appeared to be perfectly round until recently when astronomers using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) array of radio telescopes discovered a perfect sphere of a star with “remarkable circular symmetry” that they’ve named Teleios, which is ancient Greek for 'complete' or 'perfect'; Teleios appears to be up to 157 light-years in diameter and is either 7,100 or 25,100 light years away from Earth; the astronomers say in their study that Teleios may be a “supernova remnant” left behind after a supernova and is composed largely of elements such as carbon, oxygen, neon and silicon; however, it is so unique that it could be a new classification of supernova remnant or a stellar-wind bubble, which is an enormous cavity of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. Supernova Remnant sounds like a great name for a Supernova tribute band with one original member left.

There are 22 Madame Tussaud wax museums around the world, but none are as famous, not to mention scary, today as the Ocampo Palace Museum in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where witnesses captured on video the wax figure of María Sabina - a Mazatec sabia (wise woman) and shaman who used psychedelic mushrooms in her healing ceremonies – turning its head as if it spotted something unusual; the wax figure is part of a "Witches in Mexico" exhibition at the museum; María Sabina died in 1985 and is considered to be a sacred figure by many in Mexico who speculate this is  sign she didn’t die or is communicating from another dimension; skeptics say it’s more of a sign the wax was melting or an optical illusion or a digital alteration to drum up business for the museum. This sounds like a perfect opportunity for the museum’s souvenir shop to sell María Sabina bobblehead dolls.

The recent annual three-day ‘Quest Weekend’ Loch Ness monster hunt sponsored by the Loch Ness Centre drew a large crowd of experienced hunters, cryptid seekers and boaters with plenty of expensive, high-tech equipment for searching for Nessie both above and below the surface, but no sightings or definitive proof of its existence were reported; however, Little Loch Broom Marine Life was allowed to operate Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) for the first time and captured “incredible footage” of rarely seen pike and salmon which experts say is “evidence of food to sustain a giant monster and a significant step” in finding Nessie once and for all; despite the disappointing results, the fourth annual ‘quest’ is just a year away. We saw Salmon and Pike open for Country Joe and the Fish.

Alien big cats are by definition rarely welcome in the areas where they are mysteriously and inexplicably seen, but they’re dangerous in remote locations like Hawaii where any invasive species can quickly overturn the delicate ecological balance, so wildlife officials in Hawaii were quick to respond to a video showing what appears to be a large cat near the University of Hawaii at Manoa that some witnesses likened to a mountain lion; one witness says the big cat multiple times and noted that it “looked like it was looking for something to eat”; officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) searched the area but found nothing; a spokesperson said all Honolulu Zoo animals are present and accounted for; this is on the same island where unconfirmed big cat sightings were reported in 2022. It may be a visitor, but natives are still asked not to give it a lei.

I thought it would help me blend in.

From the ‘This Explains a Lot’ file comes a new survey by the Pew Research Center which found that 30% of U.S. adults say they consult astrology (or a horoscope), tarot cards or a fortune teller at least once a year, although most said they do it mostly for fun and don’t make major decisions based on them; the belief in astrology has remained between 23% and 28% for decades; in demographic comparisons, more women than men believe in astrology; more young people ages 18-29 believe than people over 65, while the percentage of believers in astrology is around 3 in 10 for both the religiously affiliated and those who are not affiliated with any religion or are atheists. If you’re single and trying to meet a date in a bar, it still pays to know your sign.

Most asteroids that make it to Earth come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but a new study titled “The Invisible Threat: Assessing the Collisional Hazard Posed by the Undiscovered Venus Co-Orbital Asteroids” reveals that three huge city-killing asteroids are hiding behind Venus and are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) which could cause catastrophic destruction if they left Venus and collided with Earth’; the study notes that these Venusian asteroids have highly chaotic trajectories which make them difficult to track – the Vera Rubin Observatory, which is expected to be operational this summer, could help detect them, but only in brief time periods when they are out of the Sun’s glare. That classic book by John Gray needs to be updated to ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus and They’re Armed and Dangerous’.

School guards at a school in the Russian city of Irkutsk are said to be fearful of working there alone after one of them recorded what they think is the ghost of a child going up and down the stairs before disappearing; the building is said to be new but was built in the same location as an old one which had been abandoned, so rumors abound that it’s a ghost of a former student returning to classes, lunch or study hall; the white misty figure looks like the outline of a child, but skeptics see it as a camera glitch or the ever-more-popular AI hoax. If this is the ghost of a kid who was stuffed into a locker, school bullies should be fearful too.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }