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Welcome Class, to Room 666...Again
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The Spawn
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The Spawn
Better Than You
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The Origin of Sex: Cosmic Solution to Ancient Mystery
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
10 July 2001
Comets and asteroids have been blamed for a lot of things before. Shaping Earth. Jumpstarting life. Wiping out dinosaurs. Even possibly altering human evolution.
But never sex.
Roughly 1 billion years after the first organisms romped in the hay, the origin of sex remains one of biology's greatest mysteries. Scientists can't say exactly why we do it, or what triggered those initial terrestrial flirtations. Before sex, life seemed to manage fine by employing asexual reproduction -- the cloning of offspring without the help of a partner.
Now a new study out of Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used digital organisms to simulate life before sex and yielded a possible mechanism for instigating Earth's first courtship.
Intimacy never sounded so stressful.
Comet or asteroid impacts could have stressed asexual organisms enough to send them down the path of sexual reproduction after forcing a flurry of genetic mutations, the study shows. Heavy doses of radiation might also have done the trick.
While these potential catalysts for mutations are highly speculative, researchers Claus Wilke and Chris Adami announced Monday night that they have determined with certainty one possible way that organisms could have managed such a chaotic environment to their advantage in opening the original door to sexual liberation.
The key to this mutation management, Adami told SPACE.com, is the discovery that when things get rough, a population of organisms adapts to handling a few mutations, while also ensuring that many mutations will be self-destructive.
"Mutations can and do still occur," he said, "but they lead to dead organisms and therefore do not affect the future."
Before sex
Sex never should have happened, biologists often say.
Though the ultimate act of affection has been around longer than anyone can remember, it wasn't always so. On the early Earth, all organisms reproduced asexually.
Any gardener is familiar with how asexual production works. Underground runners can create multiple clones (not to mention destroy a good lawn). Potatoes give up an eye to create another potato. Bulbs divide. Cacti, exhibiting no creativity in this area but managing to foster progeny nonetheless, simply let pieces of themselves fall to the ground and hope for the best.
Some animals get in on the asexual act, too. Sponges and sea anemones produce little ones via buds. Flatworms, if cut in two, grow a new head on one of their severed ends and a new tail on the other.
These are handy and powerful ways to leave a legacy.
For one thing, there's no need for a partner -- no butting of horns, no beating of the chest, no late nights at the bar. Reproduction is virtually guaranteed. Also, when desirable traits evolve, they are not quickly diluted by evolution. Your offspring are just like you. Exact clones.
Sex, on the other hand, combines myriad mutations with each pairing of genes, and the process "can wash out the good and accumulate the bad," Adami says. Just ask any failed child of successful parents.
The age of sex
Despite all these advantages for asexual reproduction, somewhere along the evolutionary line sex became all the rage.
Thankfully so, for we humans owe our existence to that first melding of the genes. Asexual reproduction provides for a plodding style of evolution, relying solely on accidental mutations to effect change. It's an evolutionary slow train that might never have gotten around to delivering humans. It can also limit a population's ability to survive severe environmental change.
Sex, on the other hand, allows plants and animals to evolve quickly, because the gene pool mixes and the fitter survive.
Yet as any parent knows, sex is a rather inefficient way to make babies. Biologically speaking, the man spends nine months doing absolutely nothing productive while the woman does all the work (in some households, this problem is known to persist far longer).
So in an evolutionary sense, why would sex ever have become so popular? More to the point, why would any asexual organism have bothered to try out sex in the first place?
We're all mutants
Researchers have long known that mutations rewrite portions of an organism's genetic code. Some mutations can be good, in fact helping a species to thrive at the expense of others. But the effect can sometimes be deadly. Since sex involves two parents, there is twice the number of mutations to muck up the genetic scripts.
Wilke and Adami created two different simple, computerized life forms that "share many characteristics with bacteria," then placed them in a stressful environment where the rate of mutations was high. By studying digital creatures, they were able to zip through many generations in a short time.
The scientists found a natural throttle to the number of mutations a population of asexual bacteria can handle. The throttle can be thought of as a conservation law. The law dictates that a population capable of adapting to the harmful effects of a few mutations cannot possibly handle a bunch of mutations. Past a critical limit, the accumulated mutations make gibberish out of the genetic code and the organisms die.
Conversely, the new law also shows that a population which can handle many mutations would be highly vulnerable to the first few. "In fact there are such organisms [today]," Adami said. "Sex could, however, never evolve" in such a population. The offspring would be too vulnerable to the initial flurry of mutations that would be written into its code, combined from two organisms.
The birth of sex
Now imagine simple organisms long ago that just happened to share genetic information in a loose and uncoordinated fashion. Such sharing goes on today without leading to reproduction.
If such a population of organisms were suddenly faced with the stress of high mutation rates, it would over the course of many generations develop a capacity to handle a few mutations. But by the new law, numerous mutations would be intolerable.
The effect of all this, Adami says, is that bad mutations would be weeded out of the population.
When multiple mutations are intolerable, bad mutations cannot accumulate, because each successive bad mutation has an increasingly deadly effect on an already weakened organism. Useful mutations, however, do not harm a population in these conditions, Adami said.
Put another way: "When multiple mutations are intolerable, bad mutations cannot accumulate, while the good ones still can."
This could pave the way for the benefits of sex to be enjoyed.
A theoretical door would be open to sexual freedom, and if a pair of organisms mutated enough to go behind that door, then their newfound ability to share beneficial mutations, via sex, would give them a Darwinian advantage over their asexual cousins in the highly stressful environment.
"You can imagine a path that leads from the uncorrelated exchange of genetic material to the completely orchestrated recombination process," he says, referring to the birth of sex.
Any number of catastrophes might have fueled a changed environment and a rate of high mutations, Adami explains. A cosmic impact could have altered Earth's atmosphere for millions of years, exposing the planet to high doses of radiation. Increased volcanic activity is another possible source.
But Adami stressed that these possibilities, while useful to consider, were not a part of the study and so remain highly speculative.
Not actually living organisms
Clifford W. Zeyl, who studies evolutionary genetics at Wake Forest University, called the work surprising and interesting, but added a further caution:
"Since the idea came from a study of digital organisms and not from any historical evidence that such stresses actually acted on living organisms, or that they would have had the effect of selecting for sex, I think it's highly speculative," Zeyl said.
Adami is confident that the computer experiment renders an accurate picture, and he suspects that if such a test could be carried out on real organisms (it can't, because it would take too long) similar results might be found.
"The digital organisms actually live in the memory of the computer, so all we do is set up the experiment and then observe," he said. He added that some biologists are skeptical of any research carried out using digital organisms, but says there is "no reason whatsoever" to think that the findings would not apply in real-life situations.
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
10 July 2001
Comets and asteroids have been blamed for a lot of things before. Shaping Earth. Jumpstarting life. Wiping out dinosaurs. Even possibly altering human evolution.
But never sex.
Roughly 1 billion years after the first organisms romped in the hay, the origin of sex remains one of biology's greatest mysteries. Scientists can't say exactly why we do it, or what triggered those initial terrestrial flirtations. Before sex, life seemed to manage fine by employing asexual reproduction -- the cloning of offspring without the help of a partner.
Now a new study out of Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used digital organisms to simulate life before sex and yielded a possible mechanism for instigating Earth's first courtship.
Intimacy never sounded so stressful.
Comet or asteroid impacts could have stressed asexual organisms enough to send them down the path of sexual reproduction after forcing a flurry of genetic mutations, the study shows. Heavy doses of radiation might also have done the trick.
While these potential catalysts for mutations are highly speculative, researchers Claus Wilke and Chris Adami announced Monday night that they have determined with certainty one possible way that organisms could have managed such a chaotic environment to their advantage in opening the original door to sexual liberation.
The key to this mutation management, Adami told SPACE.com, is the discovery that when things get rough, a population of organisms adapts to handling a few mutations, while also ensuring that many mutations will be self-destructive.
"Mutations can and do still occur," he said, "but they lead to dead organisms and therefore do not affect the future."
Before sex
Sex never should have happened, biologists often say.
Though the ultimate act of affection has been around longer than anyone can remember, it wasn't always so. On the early Earth, all organisms reproduced asexually.
Any gardener is familiar with how asexual production works. Underground runners can create multiple clones (not to mention destroy a good lawn). Potatoes give up an eye to create another potato. Bulbs divide. Cacti, exhibiting no creativity in this area but managing to foster progeny nonetheless, simply let pieces of themselves fall to the ground and hope for the best.
Some animals get in on the asexual act, too. Sponges and sea anemones produce little ones via buds. Flatworms, if cut in two, grow a new head on one of their severed ends and a new tail on the other.
These are handy and powerful ways to leave a legacy.
For one thing, there's no need for a partner -- no butting of horns, no beating of the chest, no late nights at the bar. Reproduction is virtually guaranteed. Also, when desirable traits evolve, they are not quickly diluted by evolution. Your offspring are just like you. Exact clones.
Sex, on the other hand, combines myriad mutations with each pairing of genes, and the process "can wash out the good and accumulate the bad," Adami says. Just ask any failed child of successful parents.
The age of sex
Despite all these advantages for asexual reproduction, somewhere along the evolutionary line sex became all the rage.
Thankfully so, for we humans owe our existence to that first melding of the genes. Asexual reproduction provides for a plodding style of evolution, relying solely on accidental mutations to effect change. It's an evolutionary slow train that might never have gotten around to delivering humans. It can also limit a population's ability to survive severe environmental change.
Sex, on the other hand, allows plants and animals to evolve quickly, because the gene pool mixes and the fitter survive.
Yet as any parent knows, sex is a rather inefficient way to make babies. Biologically speaking, the man spends nine months doing absolutely nothing productive while the woman does all the work (in some households, this problem is known to persist far longer).
So in an evolutionary sense, why would sex ever have become so popular? More to the point, why would any asexual organism have bothered to try out sex in the first place?
We're all mutants
Researchers have long known that mutations rewrite portions of an organism's genetic code. Some mutations can be good, in fact helping a species to thrive at the expense of others. But the effect can sometimes be deadly. Since sex involves two parents, there is twice the number of mutations to muck up the genetic scripts.
Wilke and Adami created two different simple, computerized life forms that "share many characteristics with bacteria," then placed them in a stressful environment where the rate of mutations was high. By studying digital creatures, they were able to zip through many generations in a short time.
The scientists found a natural throttle to the number of mutations a population of asexual bacteria can handle. The throttle can be thought of as a conservation law. The law dictates that a population capable of adapting to the harmful effects of a few mutations cannot possibly handle a bunch of mutations. Past a critical limit, the accumulated mutations make gibberish out of the genetic code and the organisms die.
Conversely, the new law also shows that a population which can handle many mutations would be highly vulnerable to the first few. "In fact there are such organisms [today]," Adami said. "Sex could, however, never evolve" in such a population. The offspring would be too vulnerable to the initial flurry of mutations that would be written into its code, combined from two organisms.
The birth of sex
Now imagine simple organisms long ago that just happened to share genetic information in a loose and uncoordinated fashion. Such sharing goes on today without leading to reproduction.
If such a population of organisms were suddenly faced with the stress of high mutation rates, it would over the course of many generations develop a capacity to handle a few mutations. But by the new law, numerous mutations would be intolerable.
The effect of all this, Adami says, is that bad mutations would be weeded out of the population.
When multiple mutations are intolerable, bad mutations cannot accumulate, because each successive bad mutation has an increasingly deadly effect on an already weakened organism. Useful mutations, however, do not harm a population in these conditions, Adami said.
Put another way: "When multiple mutations are intolerable, bad mutations cannot accumulate, while the good ones still can."
This could pave the way for the benefits of sex to be enjoyed.
A theoretical door would be open to sexual freedom, and if a pair of organisms mutated enough to go behind that door, then their newfound ability to share beneficial mutations, via sex, would give them a Darwinian advantage over their asexual cousins in the highly stressful environment.
"You can imagine a path that leads from the uncorrelated exchange of genetic material to the completely orchestrated recombination process," he says, referring to the birth of sex.
Any number of catastrophes might have fueled a changed environment and a rate of high mutations, Adami explains. A cosmic impact could have altered Earth's atmosphere for millions of years, exposing the planet to high doses of radiation. Increased volcanic activity is another possible source.
But Adami stressed that these possibilities, while useful to consider, were not a part of the study and so remain highly speculative.
Not actually living organisms
Clifford W. Zeyl, who studies evolutionary genetics at Wake Forest University, called the work surprising and interesting, but added a further caution:
"Since the idea came from a study of digital organisms and not from any historical evidence that such stresses actually acted on living organisms, or that they would have had the effect of selecting for sex, I think it's highly speculative," Zeyl said.
Adami is confident that the computer experiment renders an accurate picture, and he suspects that if such a test could be carried out on real organisms (it can't, because it would take too long) similar results might be found.
"The digital organisms actually live in the memory of the computer, so all we do is set up the experiment and then observe," he said. He added that some biologists are skeptical of any research carried out using digital organisms, but says there is "no reason whatsoever" to think that the findings would not apply in real-life situations.
Jack Rabbit
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Tell me about the...
...Mothman!
(I already know alot about it/him, but it's alwasy interesting. Pictures if you can find any good ones)
...Mothman!
(I already know alot about it/him, but it's alwasy interesting. Pictures if you can find any good ones)
The Spawn
Better Than You
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Mothman
The state of West Virginia has played home to one of the most bizarre "pseudo-cryptids" ever reported, the unusual - but by no means, unique - Mothman.
The first sighting came in the early 1960s. A woman was driving along Route 2, near the Ohio River, with her father. As she neared the Chief Cornstalk Hunting Grounds, a large man-shaped figure walked out onto the road. As the woman slowed her car, the figure spread two large wings and took off. Ironically, the witness did not report the incident - "Who would believe us, anyway?"
The first sighting which received publicity, though, was one in 1965. A woman living near the Ohio River related how her son had told her one day of seeing "an angel" outside. She thought nothing more of it until about a year later.
In the summer of 1966, a doctor's wife in the same general area said that she had seen a six-foot long thing resembling a "giant butterfly". On November 12, five gravediggers (how appropriate a profession!) saw something which looked like a "brown human being" fly out of the trees near Clendenin. One of the witnesses, Kenneth Duncan, said that they watched the creature for almost a minute.
On the 14th of the month, Salem resident Newell Partridge saw two red objects hovering above a field. His German Shepherd, Bandit, took off into the field and was never seen by Partridge again.
The next night, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mallette were driving near the "TNT Area", near the town of Point Pleasant. A tall figure stood by the side of the road. "It was shaped like a man, but bigger," said Mr. Scarberry. "Maybe six and a half or seven feet tall. And it had big wings folded against its back." His wife commented on its huge red eyes, "like automobile reflectors."
Mr. Scarberry, who was driving, took off in his car at "better than a hundred miles per hour," the figure spread its wings and flew after the car. It didn't seem to flap its wings at all, and its wingspan was over ten feet. Mrs. Mallette said that it made a squeaking sound, "like a big mouse." The four also noted that a dead dog had been lying by the side of the road, but was gone when they returned.
They went to the offices of the Mason County sheriff and reported their sighting. Deputy Millard Halstead returned to the TNT Area with the four, and said that as he passed the spot where they had initially seen the figure, his police radio made a sound similar to a speeded-up record.
The TNT Area, which seemed to be a sort of home for the "Mothman," as it was quickly dubbed by the press, is a large tract of land. Small concrete "igloos" dot the landscape, used during World War II to store ammunition. The TNT Area is adjacent to the 2,500 acre McClintic Wildlife Station. The entire area is covered with dense forest, steep hills, and riddled with tunnels.
The area is also sparsely populated. One of the families living in the area is that of Ralph Thomas. On the 16th, at about 9:00 pm, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, Mrs. Marcella Bennett, and Mrs. Bennett's daughter, Tina, were visiting the Thomases. On the way there, they watched a red light which circled the TNT Area. When the car pulled up in front of the Thomas', it disturbed something.
It seemed as if it had been lying down. It rose up slowly from the ground. A big gray thing. Bigger than a man, with terrible glowing red eyes.
The witnesses ran to the Thomas home, where they were let in by the three children. The figure shuffled along behind them, coming onto the porch and looking through the window. Mr. Wamsley called the police, but the thing had, of course, vanished by the time they arrived. Mrs. Bennett, who lives at the edge of Point Pleasant, says she has heard the creature on other occasions. She describes the sound it makes as "like a woman screaming."
Paul Yoder and Ben Enochs, two firemen, said they had seen Mothman in the TNT Area on the 18th. Richard West, of Charleston, called the police on November 21. A winged figure was sitting on the roof of his neighbor's house, he said. The six-foot tall figure had a wingspan of six or eight feet and red eyes. It took off straight up, "like a helicopter."
Tom Ury was driving along Route 62, near the TNT Area, on the morning of November 25. He saw a large, grayish figure standing in a field. Then it spread two large wings, lifted straight into the air, and flew over Ury's car at an altitude "three telephone poles high"--probably about 50 or 60 feet. The next day, Mrs. Ruth Foster of St. Albans said the creature was standing in her yard near her porch. Her description tallys with West's. The same day, people in Lowell, Ohio, saw several large birds flying over Cat's Creek. The three witnesses followed the birds in their car and said that they were "...dark brown with some light flecks. Their breasts were gray and they had five- or six-inch bills, straight, not curved like those of hawks or vultures." The birds seemed to have reddish heads.
And still more sightings came. On November 27, on the way home from church, Connie Carpenter saw a grayish figure standing on the golf course near Mason. The creature took off and flew straight towards her car. She was one of few who actually saw the creature's face, although her description--"It was horrible"--doesn't help much. Another sighting took place that same night in St. Albans, where two girls saw the creature near a junkyard. The creature flew after them.
On December 4, five pilots at the Gallipolis, Ohio, airport saw some sort of giant bird flying at about 70 miles per hour. Its wings weren't moving, and unlike other witnesses they commented on a long neck.
Mabel McDaniel (coincidentally, mother of Linda Scarberry, one of the first witnesses) saw Mothman on January 11, 1967. Mrs. McDaniel said that at first the creature looked like "an airplane, then I realized it was flying much too low. It was brown and had a wingspread of at least ten feet." In March, an Ohio man claimed his car was chased by a flying creature.
The last sighting seems to have come on November 2, shortly after noon. Mrs. Ralph Thomas (from Bennett's sighting) heard a "squeaky fan belt" outside her home and saw a "tall gray figure" moving among the concrete domes in the TNT Area.
Scattered sightings continued for several years afterwards. In 1968, especially, a number of hairy humanoids with glowing eyes were seen on Jerrico Road. And on September 18, people in the TNT Area supposedly saw Mothman once more--putting in his last appearance, it seems.
In late 1966, when the Mothman reports started to die down, other phenomena started up in the area. Several UFOs were seen near Point Pleasant, animals were mutilated in surrounding areas, and Mothman witnesses reported poltergeist and "men in black" phenomena. This has led many a researcher to speculate on a connection between Mothman and UFOs.
But no discussion of the Mothman phenomenon would be complete without recounting the story of the Silver Bridge. On the evening of December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, which crossed the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, collapsed in rush-hour traffic. Over forty-six cars fell into the river. It was the biggest disaster ever to hit Point Pleasant.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before people began to connect this disaster with the Mothman sightings. Was Mothman some sort of warning sign of the impending disaster? Was the entire saga somehow connected with the UFOs seen in the area?
As a final postscript, New Haven farmer Ernest Adkins reported something very odd indeed in April of 1969. He found his eleven-week-old beagle lying dead in his front yard. "There was no evidence the dog died in a fight," Adkins said. What made it strange was the fact that the dog's chest was chewed open, and its heart was lying outside.
Not surprisingly, most scientists scoffed at this theory. They said it was probably just some normal kind of bird; the favored culprit was a sandhill crane. These large birds have reddish patches on their heads (accounting for Mothman's "red eyes") and a large specimen would reach roughly the size attributed to Mothman. But other birds were found in the area that could account for the sightings. In July of 1967, several boys found a large vulture near New Haven. And at Gallipolis Ferry, a farmer shot a rare bird indeed--an Arctic snow owl. The owl was two feet tall and had a five-foot wingspan.
The state of West Virginia has played home to one of the most bizarre "pseudo-cryptids" ever reported, the unusual - but by no means, unique - Mothman.
The first sighting came in the early 1960s. A woman was driving along Route 2, near the Ohio River, with her father. As she neared the Chief Cornstalk Hunting Grounds, a large man-shaped figure walked out onto the road. As the woman slowed her car, the figure spread two large wings and took off. Ironically, the witness did not report the incident - "Who would believe us, anyway?"
The first sighting which received publicity, though, was one in 1965. A woman living near the Ohio River related how her son had told her one day of seeing "an angel" outside. She thought nothing more of it until about a year later.
In the summer of 1966, a doctor's wife in the same general area said that she had seen a six-foot long thing resembling a "giant butterfly". On November 12, five gravediggers (how appropriate a profession!) saw something which looked like a "brown human being" fly out of the trees near Clendenin. One of the witnesses, Kenneth Duncan, said that they watched the creature for almost a minute.
On the 14th of the month, Salem resident Newell Partridge saw two red objects hovering above a field. His German Shepherd, Bandit, took off into the field and was never seen by Partridge again.
The next night, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Scarberry and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Mallette were driving near the "TNT Area", near the town of Point Pleasant. A tall figure stood by the side of the road. "It was shaped like a man, but bigger," said Mr. Scarberry. "Maybe six and a half or seven feet tall. And it had big wings folded against its back." His wife commented on its huge red eyes, "like automobile reflectors."
Mr. Scarberry, who was driving, took off in his car at "better than a hundred miles per hour," the figure spread its wings and flew after the car. It didn't seem to flap its wings at all, and its wingspan was over ten feet. Mrs. Mallette said that it made a squeaking sound, "like a big mouse." The four also noted that a dead dog had been lying by the side of the road, but was gone when they returned.
They went to the offices of the Mason County sheriff and reported their sighting. Deputy Millard Halstead returned to the TNT Area with the four, and said that as he passed the spot where they had initially seen the figure, his police radio made a sound similar to a speeded-up record.
The TNT Area, which seemed to be a sort of home for the "Mothman," as it was quickly dubbed by the press, is a large tract of land. Small concrete "igloos" dot the landscape, used during World War II to store ammunition. The TNT Area is adjacent to the 2,500 acre McClintic Wildlife Station. The entire area is covered with dense forest, steep hills, and riddled with tunnels.
The area is also sparsely populated. One of the families living in the area is that of Ralph Thomas. On the 16th, at about 9:00 pm, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley, Mrs. Marcella Bennett, and Mrs. Bennett's daughter, Tina, were visiting the Thomases. On the way there, they watched a red light which circled the TNT Area. When the car pulled up in front of the Thomas', it disturbed something.
It seemed as if it had been lying down. It rose up slowly from the ground. A big gray thing. Bigger than a man, with terrible glowing red eyes.
The witnesses ran to the Thomas home, where they were let in by the three children. The figure shuffled along behind them, coming onto the porch and looking through the window. Mr. Wamsley called the police, but the thing had, of course, vanished by the time they arrived. Mrs. Bennett, who lives at the edge of Point Pleasant, says she has heard the creature on other occasions. She describes the sound it makes as "like a woman screaming."
Paul Yoder and Ben Enochs, two firemen, said they had seen Mothman in the TNT Area on the 18th. Richard West, of Charleston, called the police on November 21. A winged figure was sitting on the roof of his neighbor's house, he said. The six-foot tall figure had a wingspan of six or eight feet and red eyes. It took off straight up, "like a helicopter."
Tom Ury was driving along Route 62, near the TNT Area, on the morning of November 25. He saw a large, grayish figure standing in a field. Then it spread two large wings, lifted straight into the air, and flew over Ury's car at an altitude "three telephone poles high"--probably about 50 or 60 feet. The next day, Mrs. Ruth Foster of St. Albans said the creature was standing in her yard near her porch. Her description tallys with West's. The same day, people in Lowell, Ohio, saw several large birds flying over Cat's Creek. The three witnesses followed the birds in their car and said that they were "...dark brown with some light flecks. Their breasts were gray and they had five- or six-inch bills, straight, not curved like those of hawks or vultures." The birds seemed to have reddish heads.
And still more sightings came. On November 27, on the way home from church, Connie Carpenter saw a grayish figure standing on the golf course near Mason. The creature took off and flew straight towards her car. She was one of few who actually saw the creature's face, although her description--"It was horrible"--doesn't help much. Another sighting took place that same night in St. Albans, where two girls saw the creature near a junkyard. The creature flew after them.
On December 4, five pilots at the Gallipolis, Ohio, airport saw some sort of giant bird flying at about 70 miles per hour. Its wings weren't moving, and unlike other witnesses they commented on a long neck.
Mabel McDaniel (coincidentally, mother of Linda Scarberry, one of the first witnesses) saw Mothman on January 11, 1967. Mrs. McDaniel said that at first the creature looked like "an airplane, then I realized it was flying much too low. It was brown and had a wingspread of at least ten feet." In March, an Ohio man claimed his car was chased by a flying creature.
The last sighting seems to have come on November 2, shortly after noon. Mrs. Ralph Thomas (from Bennett's sighting) heard a "squeaky fan belt" outside her home and saw a "tall gray figure" moving among the concrete domes in the TNT Area.
Scattered sightings continued for several years afterwards. In 1968, especially, a number of hairy humanoids with glowing eyes were seen on Jerrico Road. And on September 18, people in the TNT Area supposedly saw Mothman once more--putting in his last appearance, it seems.
In late 1966, when the Mothman reports started to die down, other phenomena started up in the area. Several UFOs were seen near Point Pleasant, animals were mutilated in surrounding areas, and Mothman witnesses reported poltergeist and "men in black" phenomena. This has led many a researcher to speculate on a connection between Mothman and UFOs.
But no discussion of the Mothman phenomenon would be complete without recounting the story of the Silver Bridge. On the evening of December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, which crossed the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, collapsed in rush-hour traffic. Over forty-six cars fell into the river. It was the biggest disaster ever to hit Point Pleasant.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before people began to connect this disaster with the Mothman sightings. Was Mothman some sort of warning sign of the impending disaster? Was the entire saga somehow connected with the UFOs seen in the area?
As a final postscript, New Haven farmer Ernest Adkins reported something very odd indeed in April of 1969. He found his eleven-week-old beagle lying dead in his front yard. "There was no evidence the dog died in a fight," Adkins said. What made it strange was the fact that the dog's chest was chewed open, and its heart was lying outside.
Not surprisingly, most scientists scoffed at this theory. They said it was probably just some normal kind of bird; the favored culprit was a sandhill crane. These large birds have reddish patches on their heads (accounting for Mothman's "red eyes") and a large specimen would reach roughly the size attributed to Mothman. But other birds were found in the area that could account for the sightings. In July of 1967, several boys found a large vulture near New Haven. And at Gallipolis Ferry, a farmer shot a rare bird indeed--an Arctic snow owl. The owl was two feet tall and had a five-foot wingspan.
The Spawn
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Chupacabra or the Goatsucker was a monster that used to kill small animals by sucking their blood. Goatsucker like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster were seen by few. But unlike Bigfoot and the monster at Loch Ness the Goatsucker seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.
The Spawn
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El Chupacabra
What is it?
The Chupacabra is a creature that lives in South & Central America. It has been sighted world wide, but it has mostly been sighted in those areas. It apparently can fly. It drinks blood (although not human blood). It is famous for having killed several goats. This is where it derives it name from. Chupacabra means goat sucker in spanish. Many say that it will rise in popularity to become even more popular then The Loch Ness Monster. It has been sighted many times, but never captured.
What does it look like?
The chupacabra is human in appearance. While reports vary, they all are somewhat similar. It has fangs, witch it uses to drink blood. On its back are spines, which seem to give it the power of limited flight. Some people say it has wings and a seven foot wingspan. It has no tail. It is about 4 feet tall. It's two long arm's are clawed. It can be described as a cross between an ape, human, and bird with the fangs and stomach of a vampire and the strength + agility of a panther.
Where did it come from?
Their are several explanations. Some say that it was a pet of aliens that was either left behind or ran away. Some say it is really an animal related to humans. Some say it really does not exist, but it is really a bat. Some say it is a government experiment gone wrong.
Why all the fuss?
The chupacabra has grown in popularity because it has killed several goats and other animals. It drinks their blood. Several carcasses have been found completely drained of blood, and a chupacabra like animal seen. Many say it will become as big as big foot or the Loch Ness Monster. Remember, you saw it here first!
Where does it live?
The Chupacabra lives in south America and Purterico, but has been sighted all over the world. It lives in underground caves, of witch their are many miles of in Puertorico. There have also been extensively in Miami and Florida.
What is it?
The Chupacabra is a creature that lives in South & Central America. It has been sighted world wide, but it has mostly been sighted in those areas. It apparently can fly. It drinks blood (although not human blood). It is famous for having killed several goats. This is where it derives it name from. Chupacabra means goat sucker in spanish. Many say that it will rise in popularity to become even more popular then The Loch Ness Monster. It has been sighted many times, but never captured.
What does it look like?
The chupacabra is human in appearance. While reports vary, they all are somewhat similar. It has fangs, witch it uses to drink blood. On its back are spines, which seem to give it the power of limited flight. Some people say it has wings and a seven foot wingspan. It has no tail. It is about 4 feet tall. It's two long arm's are clawed. It can be described as a cross between an ape, human, and bird with the fangs and stomach of a vampire and the strength + agility of a panther.
Where did it come from?
Their are several explanations. Some say that it was a pet of aliens that was either left behind or ran away. Some say it is really an animal related to humans. Some say it really does not exist, but it is really a bat. Some say it is a government experiment gone wrong.
Why all the fuss?
The chupacabra has grown in popularity because it has killed several goats and other animals. It drinks their blood. Several carcasses have been found completely drained of blood, and a chupacabra like animal seen. Many say it will become as big as big foot or the Loch Ness Monster. Remember, you saw it here first!
Where does it live?
The Chupacabra lives in south America and Purterico, but has been sighted all over the world. It lives in underground caves, of witch their are many miles of in Puertorico. There have also been extensively in Miami and Florida.
Jack Rabbit
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Spooooooooooky.
Have there been any other sitings of the Mothman since Point Pleasant??
Have there been any other sitings of the Mothman since Point Pleasant??
Max Shrek
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I GOT SOMETHING FOR ALL FOR US TO DO!
*we all open a little box, then chains come out and grab the class into Hell, we see demons in leather, then a man with a pale face comes out with pins on his face*
PINHEAD: We're gonna tear your souls apart!
*we all open a little box, then chains come out and grab the class into Hell, we see demons in leather, then a man with a pale face comes out with pins on his face*
PINHEAD: We're gonna tear your souls apart!
Spidey_Freak
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Dude, that is freaking awesome.
Could you cover how we never landed on the moon?
Could you cover how we never landed on the moon?
The Spawn
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The first Mothman sighting came in early 1964. A woman, prominent in civic affairs in the town of Point Pleasant, was driving along Route 2 near the Ohio River with her father. As she neared the Chief Cornstalk Hunting Grounds, a large man-shaped figure walked out onto the road. Not knowing if he needed help, the woman slowed her car, when the figure spread two large wings and took off.
Ironically, neither reported the incident, explaining, "who would believe us anyway?"
The first sighting which received publicity, though not as the Mothman, was one in 1965. A woman living near the Ohio River related how her son had told her one day of seeing "an angel" outside. She thought nothing more of it until about a year later.
Other Sightings of the Mothman in the Point Pleasant Area
In the summer of 1966, a doctor's wife in the same general area said that she had seen a six-foot long thing resembling a "giant butterfly". She also did not think to report what she saw.
Deputy Millard Halstead went to the TNT Area with the four witnesses who had originally seen the Mothman. As they passed the spot where they had initially seen the dark figure, he was forced to switch off his police radio when the screeching interference reached a deafening pitch.
Other Sightings of the Mothman in the Point Pleasant Area Paul Yoder and Ben Enochs, two volunteer firemen of impeccable reputation, said they had seen Mothman in the TNT Area on November 18th after both having expressed skepticism when the first reports came out.
Richard West, of Charleston, called the police on November 21. A winged figure was sitting on the roof of his neighbor's house, he said. The six-foot tall figure had a wingspan of six or eight feet and red eyes. It took off straight up, "like a helicopter" without flapping its wings.
Five gravediggers saw something that looked like a "brown human being" fly out of the trees near Clendenin. One of the witnesses, Kenneth Duncan, who was digging the grave for his own brother-in-law, said that they watched the creature for almost a minute and they were quite sure it was not a bird.
The next day, Mrs. Ruth Foster of St. Albans said the creature was standing in her yard near her porch. Her description tallies with all the others.
On December 4, five pilots at the Gallipolis, Ohio, airport saw some sort of giant bird flying at about 70 miles per hour. Its wings weren't moving.
In March 1967, an Ohio man claimed his car was chased by a flying creature, rather incredible behavior if it was in fact a docile migratory bird.
All told, there were over 100 documented sightings of the Mothman from reliable witnesses. Certain details were withheld from the media until after the sightings had ceased in order to distinguish hoaxes from actual sightings.
Ironically, neither reported the incident, explaining, "who would believe us anyway?"
The first sighting which received publicity, though not as the Mothman, was one in 1965. A woman living near the Ohio River related how her son had told her one day of seeing "an angel" outside. She thought nothing more of it until about a year later.
Other Sightings of the Mothman in the Point Pleasant Area
In the summer of 1966, a doctor's wife in the same general area said that she had seen a six-foot long thing resembling a "giant butterfly". She also did not think to report what she saw.
Deputy Millard Halstead went to the TNT Area with the four witnesses who had originally seen the Mothman. As they passed the spot where they had initially seen the dark figure, he was forced to switch off his police radio when the screeching interference reached a deafening pitch.
Other Sightings of the Mothman in the Point Pleasant Area Paul Yoder and Ben Enochs, two volunteer firemen of impeccable reputation, said they had seen Mothman in the TNT Area on November 18th after both having expressed skepticism when the first reports came out.
Richard West, of Charleston, called the police on November 21. A winged figure was sitting on the roof of his neighbor's house, he said. The six-foot tall figure had a wingspan of six or eight feet and red eyes. It took off straight up, "like a helicopter" without flapping its wings.
Five gravediggers saw something that looked like a "brown human being" fly out of the trees near Clendenin. One of the witnesses, Kenneth Duncan, who was digging the grave for his own brother-in-law, said that they watched the creature for almost a minute and they were quite sure it was not a bird.
The next day, Mrs. Ruth Foster of St. Albans said the creature was standing in her yard near her porch. Her description tallies with all the others.
On December 4, five pilots at the Gallipolis, Ohio, airport saw some sort of giant bird flying at about 70 miles per hour. Its wings weren't moving.
In March 1967, an Ohio man claimed his car was chased by a flying creature, rather incredible behavior if it was in fact a docile migratory bird.
All told, there were over 100 documented sightings of the Mothman from reliable witnesses. Certain details were withheld from the media until after the sightings had ceased in order to distinguish hoaxes from actual sightings.
Jack Rabbit
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coooooooO.Oooool
The Spawn
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On the moon, there is only one light source, the sun. This is a shot of Buzz Aldrin and Neal Armstrong planting the US flag on the moon. If the sun is the only light source used by NASA on the moon, Aldrins shadow A shadows should not be so much longer than Armstrong's
This is a famous picture labeled "Man on the Moon" I have a poster of this picture hanging on my wall in my room, and it always gives me a chuckle.
If you will look at area B you will notice a shadow cast across Buzz Aldrin's space suit. Once again, if the Sun is the only light source used on the moon, this shadow would have been MUCH darker.
Looking at area C you will notice that the surface of the moon fades off into the distance, then is met with the moon's horizon. In a no-atmosphere environment, the ground shouldn't have faded out, but stayed crystal sharp unto the moon's horizon.
Looking at area D you can plainly see some type of structure reflected through Aldrins helmet. I do not know what it is, but it is there.
In this picture, taken from the LEM, you can see at least two abnormalities. In section E you see an abnormal shadow on the moon's surface. NASA claims that this shadow is the shadow cast by the Lunar Module, but on earth, even when aircraft is flying low to the ground, it does not produce such a clearly defined shadow.
OK, here's the kicker... if you will look at section 3 you will notice there are no stars in the sky. In fact, you will never see any stars in any NASA Moon photographs, or hear an astronaut mention anything about the glorious stars that are visible when out of the earths atmosphere.
The Spawn
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if you look in areas 6 and J , you will again see no stars. In area K you will notice that one side of the LEM in covered in shadow, but somehow the symbol of the US flag in illuminated. This very well could have been a touch up job.
This is a picture of Alan Bean holding up a Special Environmental Examiner Container. This picture was taken off a camera that was strapped to Conrad's chest. If the camera was attached to Conrad's chest, the top of Bean's helmet L should not be in this picture.
All of the shadows reflected in Bean's visor M are going off in separate directions, not in parallel lines like they should be.
If you will look at the Environmental sampler that Al Bean is holding, N , The reflection is coming from a light source other than the sun, but it is possible that light is being reflected off the space suit.
There is a strange anomaly in the sky 7 , It is yet to be determined what that might be.
In our last picture, I would like to direct your attention to the circled portion of the screen. These Lunar Rover tracks are quite well defined, don't you agree? Well, the fact is, you need a mixture of a compound, and water, to make such defined lines. I don't know if that idea is so convincing, but I assure you, this next one is.
If you look at the rock labeled R you will notice a the letter C carved in the rock. Perhaps a gag left by the props department?
Here is a portion of the previous picture, blown up. Take a look at the cross hairs that appear on the picture. These hairs appear on EVERY lunar picture. These cross hairs are placed between the shutter of the camera, and the film, supposedly. If you take a look at the cross hair on the left, this cross hair was placed behind the lunar rover, you can see the Lunar Rover is in front of the cross hairs.
Jack Rabbit
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*leans foward, wide eyed*
Tell me about the Jersey Devil, Spawn!
Tell me about the Jersey Devil, Spawn!
Spidey_Freak
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I'm planning on doing a school report on this moon information if I get the op. Linky?
The Spawn
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The Jersey Devil's Birthplace is generally regarded to be in Leeds Point, in what is now Atlantic County. Differing legends put the birthdate at 1735, 1778, 1850, 1855, and 1857. The remains of the old Shourds house, reputed to be the birthplace in Leeds Point, can be found in the woods, locals say.
Naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur fired a cannonball through the Jersey Devil in the early 1800s at Hanover Iron Works in Hanover. Legend has it the gaping hole did not effect the Jersey Devil, which flew casually away.
Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Spain and brother of Napoleon, made a sighting of the Jersey Devil while hunting on his estate in the early 1800s. He had finally settled in New Jersey under the name of the Count de Survilliers (Americans tended to call him Mr. Bonaparte)--taken from his Mortefontaine estatesin early 1817. He acquired title to over 1000 acres of land near Bordentown, on the Delaware River .
Many reported Jersey Devil raids in 1800s, include an 1899 raid on Vincentown and Burrsville, during which many sheep and chickens disappeared.
The largest spate of Jersey Devil sightings took place in January 1909, when thousands of residents of more than 30 towns in and around the Delaware Valley saw the fiend.
In Burlington, panic gripped the city after the Devil's hoof prints were found in backyards and on snowy rooftops.
The same week, in Jacksonville, hunters organized a posse, but their dogs were too scared to follow its tracks.
In Gloucester City, a man watched the Jersey Devil cavort on the roof of his woodshed for 10 minutes. He described the creature as "three and a half feet high, with a head like a collie and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves."
A telephone lineman working in a desolate Pines spot near Pleasantville was chased up a telephone pole by the Jersey Devil. He stayed there until a co-worker arrived and shot the Devil in the wing, wounding it. The Devil escaped into the surrounding woods.
The Jersey Devil attacked a dog in Camden, relinquishing it only when the pet owner charged at it with a broom. The devil dropped the dog and flew at the broom-wielding woman, then disappeared over a fence. The monster had torn a chunk from the dog's flesh.
In 1951, in Gibbstown, the bloody-faced Devil shocked a 10-year-old boy. A posse tried to hunt the creature down, but failed. Witnesses described it as a "hairy man" towering over 7 feet tall.
In 1987, in Vineland, a German Shepherd was found chewed and torn apart, lying 25 feet from its chain. Around the body were strange tracks that no one could identify.
Naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur fired a cannonball through the Jersey Devil in the early 1800s at Hanover Iron Works in Hanover. Legend has it the gaping hole did not effect the Jersey Devil, which flew casually away.
Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Spain and brother of Napoleon, made a sighting of the Jersey Devil while hunting on his estate in the early 1800s. He had finally settled in New Jersey under the name of the Count de Survilliers (Americans tended to call him Mr. Bonaparte)--taken from his Mortefontaine estatesin early 1817. He acquired title to over 1000 acres of land near Bordentown, on the Delaware River .
Many reported Jersey Devil raids in 1800s, include an 1899 raid on Vincentown and Burrsville, during which many sheep and chickens disappeared.
The largest spate of Jersey Devil sightings took place in January 1909, when thousands of residents of more than 30 towns in and around the Delaware Valley saw the fiend.
In Burlington, panic gripped the city after the Devil's hoof prints were found in backyards and on snowy rooftops.
The same week, in Jacksonville, hunters organized a posse, but their dogs were too scared to follow its tracks.
In Gloucester City, a man watched the Jersey Devil cavort on the roof of his woodshed for 10 minutes. He described the creature as "three and a half feet high, with a head like a collie and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves."
A telephone lineman working in a desolate Pines spot near Pleasantville was chased up a telephone pole by the Jersey Devil. He stayed there until a co-worker arrived and shot the Devil in the wing, wounding it. The Devil escaped into the surrounding woods.
The Jersey Devil attacked a dog in Camden, relinquishing it only when the pet owner charged at it with a broom. The devil dropped the dog and flew at the broom-wielding woman, then disappeared over a fence. The monster had torn a chunk from the dog's flesh.
In 1951, in Gibbstown, the bloody-faced Devil shocked a 10-year-old boy. A posse tried to hunt the creature down, but failed. Witnesses described it as a "hairy man" towering over 7 feet tall.
In 1987, in Vineland, a German Shepherd was found chewed and torn apart, lying 25 feet from its chain. Around the body were strange tracks that no one could identify.
Spidey_Freak
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Tell me about how Custler was supposedly set up!
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