Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

“Dede, an Indonesian fisherman now 35, baffled medical experts when warty “roots” began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident. The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.

Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children – now in their late teens – in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition. To make ends meet he even joined a local “freak show”, parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases. Although supported by his extended family, he was often a target of abuse and ridicule in his rural fishing village.

But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede’s home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.

After testing samples of the lesions and Dede’s blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland concluded that his affliction is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.

Dede’s problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, meaning his body is unable to contain the warts.

The virus was therefore able to “hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells”, ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance that caused the tree-like growths known as “cutaneous horns” on his hands and feet.”

Read the rest — and see the photos — on the Telegraph:
- Tree man ‘who grew roots’ may be cured
Warning: slightly strong images, it’s not a nice condition.

The very same condition afflicted a Romanian man that was featured a few months ago on the Internet. And a similar form of the condition also seems to be behind cases of people that grow “horns, like a recent Chinese granny.

In rabbits, it may also be related to the Jackalope.

Click above to see more undeniable physical evidence that angels do exist. The description in Portuguese reads:

“See the incredible photos taken on the night of October 10 by two different people with two different cameras …  The images speak for themselves. The next day, always at sunset, new photos were taken by Regina, as fantastic as the ones taken the day before.”

Amazing, huh? Perhaps not, and you’ll have realized these are just insects no more than a couple of feet away from the camera, slightly unfocused and reflecting the flash. Digital cameras have a greater depth of field, meaning they can capture small things very near the lens.

The effect is similar to the one seen in this image, and identical to this one, with a moth.

[hat tip to ufologist Claudeir Covo for suggesting the link]

Click the “Play” button above to listen to the full historic transmission of Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds“, on Halloween 1938. You can also read the script here.

Interestingly, the famous ensuing panic was also largely fictional. Though millions listened to the broadcast and a significant fraction of them were genuinely frightened, very few of them actually took action. Sociologist Robert Bartholomew has a nice article about the Martian panic.

But real panic would happen with later radio dramatizations of the play. In Chile, 1944, provincial military troops prepared for the invasion. And in Ecuador, 1949, the local version of the prank resulted in 15 deaths. The panicked mob, upon realizing there were no Martians, turned against fellow Earthlings at the radio station.

Think it couldn’t happen again? Think again, and read more about Alternative 3, which incidentally just hit the DVD.

[via magonia]

Amazing Japanese video with funny references to many classic Forteana, from cryptozoology to UFOs and ghosts.

As some of them are only famous in Japan, I compiled a list in order of appearance:

1. Mothman;
2. Chupacabras;
3. Bigfoot (with a ghost face in the background);
4. Tsuchinoko (crypto-creature famous in Japan);
5. Nessie (hand, this was a nice one);
6. Alien with FBI/KGB/Gestapo agents (actually a “Talk of the Times” newspaper hoax);
7. Flatwoods Monster;
8. The Doll with growing hair (another typically Japanese Forteana);
9. Aliens play with cattle mutilations and…
10. Crop circles, by drawing Doraemon;
11. A play on a famous Australian sea serpent photo;
12. An explanation for Japan’s mystery guardrail metal shards;
13. The standing Lesser Panda that was the sensation in the land of the rising Sun.

The biggest illusion is not ‘Matrix’, a virtual world of experiences that only happen inside your mind. No, the biggest illusion is your own mind, specifically your consciousness and something called free will. You have lived this illusion your whole life, even now, as you read these lines.

After discovering it, there’s no going back. You take the red pill by knowing how science has been uncovering this illusion for decades, but the ‘Matrix’ do not seems to want you to discover the truth. And it’s accessible to anyone, really.

Click on the red pill to continue reading.

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