Folklore, Cryptids, & Peculiar
The Travis Walton Experience
On November 5, 1975, Travis Walton, a logger in Snowflake, Arizona, was working with a crew in the White Mountains. As they drove home, the crew saw a glowing object in the forest. Walton approached it and was struck by a beam of light. Believing he was dead, the crew fled. Walton was missing for five days. He reappeared disoriented and claimed he had been aboard an alien spacecraft. The incident became one of the most famous alleged alien abduction cases in the U.S., and Walton passed multiple polygraph tests. His story was dramatized in the 1993 film Fire in the Sky, based on his book The Walton Experience.
The Myrtles Plantation
The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is one of the most famously haunted homes in the United States—a place where folklore, tragedy, and ghost stories intertwine with Southern Gothic charm. Built in 1796 by General David Bradford, the plantation is steeped in antebellum history and surrounded by moss-draped oaks. The house is said to be home to at least 12 ghosts, with countless reports of paranormal activity from visitors and staff. One of the most chilling legends involves a mirror in the main hallway. According to lore, after the murder of Sara Woodruff and her children, their spirits became trapped in the mirror because it wasn’t covered during mourning—a Southern tradition meant to prevent souls from getting stuck. Visitors claim to see handprints, faces, and strange smears that reappear even after cleaning. Paranormal investigators have reported cold spots and unexplained reflections, adding to the mirror’s haunted reputation. The grand staircase is another hotspot for ghostly sightings. Many claim to see the ghost of Chloe, a former enslaved woman allegedly involved in the poisoning of the Woodruff family. Her spirit is said to linger near the stairs. A famous photo taken in the 1990s allegedly shows a shadowy figure standing on the staircase, which some believe is Chloe. Guests have reported phantom footsteps, whispers, and a feeling of being watched while ascending or descending the stairs.
Fateful Fall
In May 1942, photojournalist, Russell Sorgi captured a chilling moment outside the Genesee Hotel in Buffalo, New York: Mary Miller, mid-fall, having leapt from the eighth-story window.
The image, frozen just seconds before her death, stunned the nation with its stark immediacy. Reprinted in Life magazine weeks later, it became one of the most haunting and widely recognized photographs of its time—an enduring testament to the power of photojournalism to arrest time and evoke deep, uncomfortable truths.
Deja Vu
You know that eerie feeling, when something completely new feels strangely familiar? Scientists are now giving déjà vu a mind-bending twist. A new theory suggests it could be more than a brain glitch. It might be a momentary crossover between you and your parallel self in another universe.
According to this idea, déjà vu occurs when two versions of you existing in slightly different realities, briefly align. The same event happens in both worlds at once, and your consciousness flickers between them. That flicker feels like recognition, a whisper from another life where you’ve already lived that instant.
Some researchers link this to quantum entanglement, where particles remain connected across space and time. If the universe is a vast network of probabilities, déjà vu might be a signal of those threads momentarily syncing. Others argue it’s the brain’s way of processing overlapping memories — but even that doesn’t explain why it feels so profoundly real.
Imagine each déjà vu as a cosmic glitch a second of alignment where the boundaries between universes blur just enough for you to sense another version of yourself watching the same moment unfold. Maybe déjà vu isn’t confusion. Maybe it’s confirmation that reality isn’t as linear as we think.
Hessdalen lights
The Hessdalen lights are a strange and persistent phenomenon observed in Norway’s Hessdalen Valley since the 1930s. These lights appear both day and night, glowing white, yellow, or red. They sometimes hover in place, sway gently, or shoot across the sky at high speeds. Sightings can last anywhere from a few seconds to several hours, and the lights often pulse or flicker in eerie patterns. Despite decades of scientific monitoring—including radar and video recordings—no definitive explanation has emerged. Some researchers suggest natural plasma caused by radon decay, while others point to rare atmospheric conditions. And of course, the UFO lore surrounding Hessdalen has earned it the nickname “Norway’s Roswell.”
The Importance of Cryptozoology
Throughout history, cultures around the world have told stories of mysterious and elusive creatures—many of which were long dismissed as myth or legend. Yet, time and again, some of these so-called cryptids have been proven real. The gorilla, once thought to be a fearsome jungle myth, was confirmed by Western science in the mid-19th century. The okapi, a shy forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe, remained hidden from modern science until the early 1900s. And the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish believed extinct for 65 million years, was found alive and well in 1938. Cryptozoology has the potential to reveal unknown biodiversity, enhance our understanding of animal behavior, and illuminate the foundations of myth and folklore...these surprising discoveries also remind us that the line between myth and reality isn’t always as clear as we think
The Xiaozhai Tiankeng: A Hidden World Beneath the Earth
In Chongqing Province lies the Xiaozhai Tiankeng, the deepest sinkhole on Earth, plunging 662 meters (2,172 feet) into the limestone bedrock. Locals call it the Heavenly Pit—a name befitting its scale and mystery. This colossal chasm was born when an ancient cavern, hollowed by an underground river over millions of years, finally collapsed, revealing a vertical gateway into another world.
At the bottom thrives a dense, self-contained forest unlike any other. Scientists have documented over 1,300 species of plants and animals within its mist-shrouded depths, many of them endemic. Cut off from the outside environment, this ecosystem has evolved in near-total isolation, creating a living laboratory of adaptation and survival.
For generations, villagers whispered about the misty panther, a shadowy feline said to haunt the sinkhole’s fog. Long dismissed as folklore, expeditions eventually confirmed the presence of a unique cat species adapted to the perpetual dimness and moisture of the pit—an extraordinary example of myth converging with science.
An 8.5-kilometer underground river courses through the sinkhole, cascading into a waterfall that nourishes the hidden jungle below. This constant supply of water and nutrients sustains the flourishing biodiversity, making Xiaozhai Tiankeng one of the most remarkable natural sanctuaries ever discovered.
With species found nowhere else on Earth, the Heavenly Pit is more than a geological wonder—it is a biological revelation, hailed as one of the most significant ecological discoveries of the 21st century.
Echoes of Lozen: Warrior and Ghost
The desert wind carried whispers of her name—Lozen, the woman who rode like thunder and listened to the earth as if it spoke only to her. Born among the Chihenne Chiricahua Apache in the mid‑1800s, she grew up in a world of struggle, where survival meant courage and cunning. From the moment of her coming‑of‑age ceremony, the spirits marked her: she could sense the movement of enemies, feeling their presence like a vibration in the ground. Her people believed this gift was sacred, and Victorio, her brother and chief, called her his “right hand.”
When war came, Lozen did not shrink into the shadows of tradition. She rode beside the warriors, her rifle steady, her eyes sharp. She was not only a fighter but a strategist, guiding her people through ambushes and across rivers swollen with danger. Once, when women and children stood trembling at the edge of the Rio Grande, it was Lozen who led them across, her voice steady, her courage unshaken, until all had reached the far shore alive.
Her compassion was as fierce as her blade. On one journey, she left the warpath to escort a mother and newborn across the desert. With only a knife and a rifle, she hunted silently, killing a longhorn with her blade so no gunshot would betray them. She carried the child, guarded the mother, and brought them safely to their people. In her, strength and tenderness were never at odds—they were the same force, the same devotion.
Later, she rode with Geronimo, her presence a reminder that resistance was not only about battle but about spirit. Even when captured, even when imprisoned, her legend grew. She died in 1889, far from her homeland, but the stories of her bravery did not die. They became ghost‑songs, carried in the wind, told around fires, remembered in the bones of the land.
Today, Lozen is remembered as a warrior, a prophet, and a protector. She was a woman who defied the boundaries of her time, who fought not for glory but for the survival and dignity of her people. Her ghost lingers in the desert, not as a haunting, but as a guardian—an eternal rider whose courage still inspires.
I searched for historical photographs of Lozen, but unfortunately, no confirmed solo portrait of her survives. The only known images are group photographs of Chiricahua Apache prisoners taken in the 1880s, where she is believed to appear among them. These are rare and often difficult to identify with certainty.
The Warning
