Weird Musical History #9 In 1977, NASA launched the probes spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 on a journey that will eventually have them leave our solar system far behind. They each carry a twelve-inch golden phonograph record with a message to any aliens who might in the distant future find one of the probes. TheContinue reading “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”
Author Archives: Paul Weatherhead
Iranian School Girl Poisoning: Mass Hysteria?
Since November 2022, over one thousand students, mostly girls, have reportedly been victims of poison attacks in Iran. The girls in schools across several cities have suffered symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, breathing problems, weakness, fatigue and paralysis. Often the students noticed a strange smell – variously described as tangerines, rotten fish, peppermint, bleach orContinue reading “Iranian School Girl Poisoning: Mass Hysteria?”
Chinese Balloons Over Hebden!
In the summer of 2008 the skies over the Calder Valley were invaded by mysterious lights, seen by witnesses from Mytholmroyd to Todmorden. MYSTERY LIGHTS FUEL UFO SPECULATION was the headline in the Hebden Bridge Times of 21 August 2008. All the sightings were remarkably similar. In Todmorden on 26 July, Gemma Kipping’s guests hadContinue reading “Chinese Balloons Over Hebden!”
Close Encounters of the Third World War Kind
Suddenly everyone’s talking about UFOs again. After President Biden ordered the military to shoot down a supposed Chinese spy balloon, several more unidentified flying objects were also tracked and destroyed over North America, with senior military officer General Glen VanHerck saying they were not ruling out the possibility of extra-terrestrial involvement.[i] Of course, it’s highlyContinue reading “Close Encounters of the Third World War Kind”
The Dublin Blackberry Poisoner
In the autumn of 1989 it was feared that a maniac poisoner was at large in Dublin, coating blackberries with the deadly herbicide Paraquat. Anyone, especially children, could be in danger from this lethal toxin as they went blackberrying. The press called him the ‘Paraquat Lunatic’ or the ‘Poison Maniac’ and it led to understandableContinue reading “The Dublin Blackberry Poisoner”
Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8
I recently came across an odd vinyl album on Hebden Bridge flea market called Music for Plants by the Baroque Bouquet (pictured above). The record’s back sleeve claims that playing it to your plants will keep your plants happy and healthy. What kind of music do plants like? Well, that was worth coughing up myContinue reading “Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8”
Uri Geller ~ The Album
Weird Musical History #7 In the early 1970s a young Israeli self-proclaimed psychic called Uri Geller made his first appearances in Britain, gaining tabloid headlines and demonstrating his supposedly supernatural powers on TV. The superpower that Geller became best known for was the rather prosaic one of bending spoons with the power of his mind,Continue reading “Uri Geller ~ The Album”
The Paris Vampire – The Vampires That Time Forgot #2
You may have heard of the Highgate Vampire said to have haunted Highgate Cemetery in London in the 1960s and 70s. You may also have heard of the Kirklees Vampire which was supposed to have infested Robin Hood’s grave, near Brighouse in West Yorkshire. However, I recently stumbled upon another ‘real’ vampire case that seemsContinue reading “The Paris Vampire – The Vampires That Time Forgot #2”
Todmorden Ghost Busting Wizard Priest Necromancer’s Xmas Advice
Henry Krabtree, also known as Merlinus Rusticus, was a seventeenth century Todmorden curate – but that’s not all. He had a reputation as a ghost buster, necromancer and healer and did battle with weird demons while at the same time writing arch bitchy comments about his congregation in the parish records. In 1685 he wroteContinue reading “Todmorden Ghost Busting Wizard Priest Necromancer’s Xmas Advice”
Some Headless Xmas Ghosts
Hannah Grundy – the Headless Ghost of Staithes If you take a night walk on the beach near the North Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes at Christmas, you might see an eerie transparent figure floating down from the towering coastal cliffs. As the shape comes closer, it crosses a bridge and comes onto the beachContinue reading “Some Headless Xmas Ghosts”
Paul Weatherhead 