Around Bennington, Vermont, no fewer than seven people disappeared between the years 1945 and 1950. There was no evidence to suggest murder (only one of those to have vanished was ever found - dead, but in a place where it is almost certain that her body would have been found by earlier searchers) but the citizens of Bennington could explain the mysterious events only by inventing a particularly cunning madman, a killer who emerged from nowhere, killed and returned to obscurity until his perverse passions once again drove him to prowl for a fresh victim.
To some people, this mysterious killer was known as the 'Bennington Ripper', but other people called him (or her) the 'Mad Murderer of the Long Trail'.This killer derived his name from a hikers' footpath running 422 kilometers along or not far from the crest of Vermont's Green Mountains. One of the lesser peaks of the mountain chain is Mount Glastonbury, and it was somewhere on the 13 kilometers of trail that goes over the peak that seven people mysteriously vanished.
First to go was a 75 year old woodsman named Middie Rivers. He is said to have known the Long Trail better than most people know their own living room, yet on 12 November 1945, he set out to hunt deer and was never seen again. The last that anybody ever saw of him was about thirty kilometers from the town of Bennington, near the Mount Glastonbury entrance to the Trail.
High Strangeness
Strange spheres have been seen flying in the skies of Bury St Edmunds this week.
A resident phoned police after seeing four black spheres flying in formation over the Howard estate and out towards Fornham St Martin.
A police spokeswoman said the sighting was reported at around 9.30am on Saturday, but they have received no further calls.
The police have now passed on the information to the Ministry of Defence.
An MoD spokeswoman said: "We have received a report that says four black spheres were seen flying over Bury St Edmunds at 9.27am on April 21, 2007. The report was passed to us by Ipswich police.
A resident phoned police after seeing four black spheres flying in formation over the Howard estate and out towards Fornham St Martin.
A police spokeswoman said the sighting was reported at around 9.30am on Saturday, but they have received no further calls.
The police have now passed on the information to the Ministry of Defence.
An MoD spokeswoman said: "We have received a report that says four black spheres were seen flying over Bury St Edmunds at 9.27am on April 21, 2007. The report was passed to us by Ipswich police.
Bogota, Colombia -- A nationwide blackout hit Colombia on Thursday, with authorities struggling to determine the cause of the electrical grid's collapse.
President Alvaro Uribe told journalists in the southern city of Cali that authorities would "know in a few minutes" the cause of the blackout, which took place at about 10:15 a.m. local time.
He said the blackout "appears to have affected the entire country."
President Alvaro Uribe told journalists in the southern city of Cali that authorities would "know in a few minutes" the cause of the blackout, which took place at about 10:15 a.m. local time.
He said the blackout "appears to have affected the entire country."
UFO sightings are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.
Experienced Aurigny pilot Captain Ray Bowyer's reports of massive UFOs off the coast of Alderney have been corroborated by a Blue Islands pilot en route to Jersey.
Two experienced airline pilots on separate flights saw something up to a mile wide off the coast of Alderney on Monday afternoon. Surprisingly, Jersey radar equipment did not pick up the object, although an air traffic controller said he had received simultaneous reports from the Aurigny and Blue Islands pilots.
Aurigny's Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, said he saw the strange object during a flight from Southampton.
He spotted a bright-yellow light 10 miles west of Alderney while his plane was about 30 miles from the island and at 4,000ft.
'It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000ft up and stationary,' he said.
Experienced Aurigny pilot Captain Ray Bowyer's reports of massive UFOs off the coast of Alderney have been corroborated by a Blue Islands pilot en route to Jersey.
Two experienced airline pilots on separate flights saw something up to a mile wide off the coast of Alderney on Monday afternoon. Surprisingly, Jersey radar equipment did not pick up the object, although an air traffic controller said he had received simultaneous reports from the Aurigny and Blue Islands pilots.
Aurigny's Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, said he saw the strange object during a flight from Southampton.
He spotted a bright-yellow light 10 miles west of Alderney while his plane was about 30 miles from the island and at 4,000ft.
'It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000ft up and stationary,' he said.
Galactic Visitor, Or Greenhouse Reflection?
The BBC says a commercial airline pilot reported seeing two unidentified flying objects in the sky near Guernsey.
The pilot reportedly estimated the bright yellow flat discs were twice the size of a Boeing 737, and spotted them Monday, 12 to 15 miles north east of the island.
"This is not something you see every day of the week -- it was pretty scary," pilot Ray Bowyer said, adding he originally thought the sun was reflecting off greenhouses in Guernsey.
John Spencer, deputy chairman of the British UFO Research Association, says pilot UFO sightings have been reported since the 1940s, and generate excitement because pilots are trained observers. In Monday's case, the sightings were verified by passengers and other pilots in the area.
The BBC says a commercial airline pilot reported seeing two unidentified flying objects in the sky near Guernsey.
The pilot reportedly estimated the bright yellow flat discs were twice the size of a Boeing 737, and spotted them Monday, 12 to 15 miles north east of the island.
"This is not something you see every day of the week -- it was pretty scary," pilot Ray Bowyer said, adding he originally thought the sun was reflecting off greenhouses in Guernsey.
John Spencer, deputy chairman of the British UFO Research Association, says pilot UFO sightings have been reported since the 1940s, and generate excitement because pilots are trained observers. In Monday's case, the sightings were verified by passengers and other pilots in the area.
Unidentified flying discs. Secret military missions. Government cover-ups.
The story Philip Lipson and Charlette LeFevre have been researching for years has almost all the elements of a made-for-TV movie.
As the story goes, a government employee swore he saw flying saucers three days after a Tacoma man said similar UFOs spewed metal and lava onto his boat. There was even a man in black.
A witness later recanted his statement - some say out of fear - after a military plane supposedly transporting classified debris exploded into flames.
"You don't want to know how complicated and bizarre this is," said LeFevre, who, with Lipson, runs the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries on Capitol Hill.
The story Philip Lipson and Charlette LeFevre have been researching for years has almost all the elements of a made-for-TV movie.
As the story goes, a government employee swore he saw flying saucers three days after a Tacoma man said similar UFOs spewed metal and lava onto his boat. There was even a man in black.
A witness later recanted his statement - some say out of fear - after a military plane supposedly transporting classified debris exploded into flames.
"You don't want to know how complicated and bizarre this is," said LeFevre, who, with Lipson, runs the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries on Capitol Hill.
University of Washington research engineer Bill Beaty is set to test a piece of stone purported to have fallen from an alien spacecraft 60 years ago.
Philip Lipson and Charlette LeFevre, who run the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries, have been researching for years a story that began in June 1947 when a government employee swore he saw flying saucers three days after a Tacoma man said similar UFOs had dropped metal and lava onto his boat, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Monday.
"You don't want to know how complicated and bizarre this is," said LeFevre.
Philip Lipson and Charlette LeFevre, who run the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries, have been researching for years a story that began in June 1947 when a government employee swore he saw flying saucers three days after a Tacoma man said similar UFOs had dropped metal and lava onto his boat, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Monday.
"You don't want to know how complicated and bizarre this is," said LeFevre.
Forensic police on Saturday began examining a deserted catamaran found drifting off Australia's Great Barrier Reef -- with the sails up, engine running and food on the table -- for clues about the three missing crew members.
The three men were last seen Sunday leaving the northeastern town of Airlie Beach. On Wednesday, a patrol plane spotted their 12-meter (40-foot) catamaran drifting aimlessly, its headsail battered and torn, some 150 kilometers (93.21 miles) offshore.
When rescue crews finally boarded the vessel, named Kaz II, early Friday, they found the engines running, computers charging, even food and cutlery laid out on the table -- but no crew.
The mast was damaged and the headsail had been shredded, but no distress call had been made.
Police launched a massive sea and air rescue Friday spanning a stretch of coast around 700 nautical miles long, but found no trace of the missing men.
The three men were last seen Sunday leaving the northeastern town of Airlie Beach. On Wednesday, a patrol plane spotted their 12-meter (40-foot) catamaran drifting aimlessly, its headsail battered and torn, some 150 kilometers (93.21 miles) offshore.
When rescue crews finally boarded the vessel, named Kaz II, early Friday, they found the engines running, computers charging, even food and cutlery laid out on the table -- but no crew.
The mast was damaged and the headsail had been shredded, but no distress call had been made.
Police launched a massive sea and air rescue Friday spanning a stretch of coast around 700 nautical miles long, but found no trace of the missing men.
News Shopper readers have been left baffled by strange orange lights they claim to have seen in the sky last night.
People living in the Sidcup and Bexleyheath area claim the lights moving slowly through the sky at around 9.30pm.
Descriptions of the amounts of lights seen differ from several to at least a hundred.
News Shopper has received eye-witness reports claiming the lights were moving in formation. There is reportedly no evidence the lights were being beamed from the ground.
One reader, by e-mail, said: "I live in the Sidcup area and tonight we saw at least a hundred orange lights floating across the sky, following each other in formation."
People living in the Sidcup and Bexleyheath area claim the lights moving slowly through the sky at around 9.30pm.
Descriptions of the amounts of lights seen differ from several to at least a hundred.
News Shopper has received eye-witness reports claiming the lights were moving in formation. There is reportedly no evidence the lights were being beamed from the ground.
One reader, by e-mail, said: "I live in the Sidcup area and tonight we saw at least a hundred orange lights floating across the sky, following each other in formation."
The first crop circle formation of the 2007 season has arrived - bigger and earlier than ever before.
It measures a huge 333ft across and appeared over the weekend in a field of striking yellow oil seed rape.
While crop formations have been known in April, most usually start being discovered in early May and are smaller affairs.
It is located beneath Oliver's Castle, a hilltop archaeological site near Devizes, famous among crop circle devotees as the spot video footage supposedly showed a crop circle being made by two balls of light.
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| ©Wiltshire Gazette |
| The crop circle near Devizes |
It measures a huge 333ft across and appeared over the weekend in a field of striking yellow oil seed rape.
While crop formations have been known in April, most usually start being discovered in early May and are smaller affairs.
It is located beneath Oliver's Castle, a hilltop archaeological site near Devizes, famous among crop circle devotees as the spot video footage supposedly showed a crop circle being made by two balls of light.
Comment: Other witnesses have left comments on the News Shopper web page.