Snooping Around

Surely Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Life looks a little bit better with snow, lights and songs all over the decorated streets. And of course there’s Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas) bringing joy and presents to all the good girls and boys. But there’s some parts of Europe, like Germany, Austria, and other parts of the Alps region, where naughty children needs to be very careful during the holidays because of a dark, mischievous and grumpy figure hidden in the shadows. This evil spirit is the Krampus, Saint Nicholas counterpart. This creature is an anthropomorphic beast with fangs, fur, and horns. Dark and ancient spirit, Krampus announces his presence with loud bells and terrorizes the kids who have misbehaved during the year. In contrast with Santa giving the good ones gifts and joy, Krampus gives the bad ones whip beatings and nightmares. And if you have been particularly naughty, Krampus will drop you in a sack and whisk you away to his lair in...

There’s a lone bridge in Minton, near Dumbarton (Scotland), where something mysterious and heartbreaking happened. Without any explanation, in the past 50 years, about 600 dogs have jumped off of this secular structure, and almost 50 of them unfortunately died. But the most puzzling thing is that these poor animals have all taken the fatal jump from the exact same spot, located between the last two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge. But why this mass suicide took place? “This is an heartbreaking mystery. There are lots of owners whose dogs have died and who are trying to find out why they jumped.” This is what the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said about this tragedy, and if you have a look on the internet you’ll find lots of sadly detailed witnesses of poor dogs who slipped away from the hands of shocked owners. But another strangeness was common to all of this dogs: almost all the incidents have taken place on clear sunny days and a...

Turritopsis Nutricula, the Immortal Jellyfish What if I tell you there is a species of animal that can age both forwards and backwards, making it an immortal living organism. And what if I tell you that the powerful creature with this incredible characteristic is one of the tiniest jellyfish ever seen. Well, in this case is completely fair saying that size doesn’t matter. After the Random Facts about Jellyfish and The history of the BlueDragon (click the links for more), here the immortality life circle of Turritopsis Nutricula, the Immortal Jellyfish. Most jellyfish have a lifetime of between a few hours to a few months. Few species can also live for several years. But only the Turritopsis Nutricula have the unique ability to live forever. They can grow old like every other living thing, but then can reverse this process and turn young again.  Unfortunately, this kind of jellyfish can only grow to a maximum of around 1/5 of an inch in diameter, so they are an extremely ...

Nature can be very mysterious and The Fascinating Story of the Exploding Toads and The Clever Crows is the perfect example. Maybe, if this is the first time you've ever heard of this, you’d probably think I’m going to talk about a fairy tale. Interesting, but simply a funny story. And maybe with some kind of moral in the end. Believe me, this actually happened. When I first heard of it, I was extremely surprised. Now let’s go back in the spring of 2005, shall we? In Hamburg (Germany) a documented film about the phenomenon reported this: About 1.000 dead toads were discovered lying around the edges. Their bodies appeared to have exploded. Eye-witnesses said they swelled up to about three-and-a-half times their normal size and then simply burst. And they burst with such an explosive force that their entrails were blown over several square meters. As you just read, toads randomly began exploding. Spewing guts, blood and skin for nearly a yard in every direction. For s...

Beware Friday The 13 th … If you’re tempted to do dangerous things, avoid doing that on this dark day. Because all the bad luck of the universe will hopelessly pour over your poor head. Better stand still all day long without moving. This is the thought of the most superstitious people. Personally I have never risked my life due to supernatural activities…well, not more than I usually do everyday. But of course the black shadow of this day is always upon us, threatening and fascinating. There are lots of theories behind the questions “Why is Friday the 13 th considered unlucky? Why this evil reputation?”. Or probably I should ask you “Have you ever asked yourselves those question?”. Maybe not, but one of my personal goals is to give answers about questions you've never asked. So, here for you some of the theories about the bad luck around Friday The 13 th . Adam and Eve portrayed by Mark Chagall  Since unmindful time, everybody has separately considered both Friday and ...

Here we are at last. The mystery of all mysteries. If you have never heard of it, you probably live on another planet.  Where a huge number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under paranormal circumstances. This is the Bermuda Triangle. The most dangerous, the oddest, the creepiest, the….. but wait a moment. Documented evidence says most of the incidents were spurious, inaccurately reported , or even embroidered by later imaginative authors . Also the WWF didn't include it in a 2013 study about the 10 most dangerous waters for shipping. Can it be the first worldwide example of “All Talk and No Action”. Let’s find out… The Bermuda Triangle is a wide area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. Over the last few centuries, it’s thought that dozens of people have disappeared without a trace in the area. Because of its weird influence, this place earned the nickname “The Devil’s Triangle”. Thousands of people are completely sure that it’s an area of ...

Surfing on the Internet in search of new mysteries to talk about I found out something very strange. I’ve already talked about the Ringing Rocks County Park . And again today’s weirdness is located in Pennsylvania. What if I tell you there exists a city which has been burning for almost 50 years. And is still burning now.  I was surprised when I first heard about Centralia , a borough (a self-governing municipal entity that is usually smaller than a city) and a near-ghost town in Columbia County. Its population has radically dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 8 in 2014 , and so is the least-populated municipality in Pennsylvania. But If you look at it, seems a very pleasurable city. So why everybody ran away ? Founded in 1862, Centralia came out because of the booming coal mining industry. Under the town lays a particular type of coal, called Anthracite coal (also known as Black Diamond, a much cooler name), once in high demand for heating homes. This underground m...