Tea and Skeletons

A place of everything unexplainable, unimaginable and unknown with a twist of morbidity, psychology and history. I do not own any of the material here, I find and re-post the majority of the work here Consider this a library.

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Sightings of this particular phenomenon go back as far as 1811 and occur in the Hessdalen Valley, which is in the middle of Norway. However, in the early 1980s, the lights became much more frequent, with a peak of nearly 20 separate reports each week. Since then, the sightings have decreased in frequency, with observations numbering 10–20 per year. Normally, the lights are either bright white or yellow and hover above the ground.

Various scientific studies have been commissioned to find out the source behind the lights, but no conclusive explanation has been found. (There are cameras stationed around the valley, set up to take pictures of any bright light.) Studies meant to refute some of the findings have pointed out a variety of logical explanations, including car headlights and mirages, though they admit that such things don’t necessarily explain every occurrence

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Donald Harvey, a.k.a. The Angel of Death, is a lesser-known but extremely deadlyserial killer who was a hospital orderly. Harvey claimed up to 57 lives, a very high number for a serial killer, and he did it right under the noses of hospital staff and administrators.[10]

Working at Marymount Hospital in Kentucky, where his murderous rampage was only beginning, he killed at least 15 patients, and no one even noticed. The killer would often hook up faulty oxygen tanks to his victims or smother them to death as they lay helplessly in their hospital bed. Going to work and killing victims right there in the hospital with all the hustle and bustle of staff around you takes a heart of ice. His coworkers would even joke with Harvey about how many of his patients would die under his care, and he would joke back with them.

Here is where the plot really thickens: after the killing spree at Marymount Hospital, Harvey was arrested on March 31, 1971, for burglary. Highly intoxicated during his arrest, Donald Harvey confessed to the murders he had committed thus far, but an investigation did not bring up sufficient evidence to charge him. The police let him go with only the burglary charge.

Later, Harvey would go on to kill friends, lovers, and eventually get hired at several more hospitals where he would continue to kill innocent patients, completely undetected by the hospital staff.

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“Enjoy your new life without us. You’re not a parent anymore. He’s dead and soon I will be too.” 

The message was sent by Tony Moreno to Adrianne Oyola. He took their seven-month-old child to the Arrigoni Bridge in the American city of Middletown, Connecticut and threw him off the bridge. He planned on dying with the child, but when he jumped off the bridge, he survived the fall. He sent the text message to her before he jumped.

 He was charged with murder and plead not guilty. 

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Jon Bon Jovi - August 7, 4:15

The title is a reference to the day on which Katherine Korzilius, daughter of the band’s tour manager at the time, was killed. The story is told through the song in a tasteful manner, but the facts behind the event are tragic.

The murder is even part of the Unsolved Mysteries television show because Katherine’s killer was never found. The six-year-old child was with her mother and brother on that fateful day.

On their way home, they stopped at the mailbox to get their mail. The child asked if she could bring the mail home by herself since she was always eager to prove that she was a big girl. After an hour of waiting for her daughter to arrive home, the mother decided to return to the mailbox.

Katherine was nowhere to be found. A search through the neighborhood revealed the body of the child. The song repeats the date and time of death as a chorus.

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When David, Doris, and Penny Young entered the  The Cokeville Elementary School on May 16, 1986 there was one goal in mind: to carry out David’s dark plan called “the Biggie.” This plan included holding all 100+ children in the elementary school hostage for $2 million each, detonating a bomb that was attached to David, and transporting all the children and money to his new world, where he would be God.

David Young was the only police officer in Cokeville for 6 months in 1979. After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona. He returned on May 16, 1986 with his wife Doris. 

At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. Vengeance for having been fired did not seem to have been the motive, but rather a philosophy recorded in journal entries referring to a Brave New World where he wanted to reign over intelligent children. He had been aware of above average achievement scores from Cokeville's education system. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community where he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy". David Young went to the school office, handing out a manifesto entitled "ZERO EQUALS INFINITY" and announcing "This is a revolution!". 

Teachers were confused and baffled by David's nonsensical strange writing and deduced that Young and his wife were mentally ill and delusional. Meanwhile, Doris Young went from classroom to classroom, luring 136 children, 6 faculty, 9 teachers, and 3 other adults, including a job applicant and a UPS driver, into a first-grade classroom for a total of 154 hostages. She lured them by telling them there was either an emergency, a surprise, or an assembly there.

Mr. Young had initially planned to involve longtime friends, Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who had invested money with him in a get-rich scheme that Mr. Young had called "The Biggie." The two men eventually refused to participate in the event. Both men were handcuffed in a van outside the school.

David's youngest daughter from his first marriage, Penny, entered the elementary school with David and Doris Young, but refused to carry out the plan, leaving to report the incident at the town hall.

In the classroom, David Young held the gasoline bomb, with the triggering mechanism attached to a shoelace tied around his wrist. He demanded a ransom of two million dollars per hostage and an audience with President Reagan. David Young had also sent a copy of the manifesto to President Ronald Reagan. With permission, teachers brought in books, art supplies and a television to help keep the children occupied. 

Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. Doris Young tried numerous times to calm the children by telling them to "think of it as an adventure movie", or that they "would have a great story to tell their grandchildren". 

Many children showed signs of distress with sobs, complaining of headaches from the smell of gasoline from the bomb, or simply wanting to go home. One hostage observed a birthday on that day and songs were sung in his honor. The hostage takers took part in the singing. The mood did not lift with the singing and teachers quickly negotiated with the hostage takers to get items from the library to help the kids get their minds off the siege, and help to pass the time. Prayers were offered in small groups among the children, and presumably individually as well. 

About 2 and 1/2 hours into the standoff, David Young transferred the triggering mechanism of the bomb to Doris' wrist, and went to a small bathroom that connected the first and second grade rooms. While he was gone, Doris Young jerked her hand on the triggering mechanism and the bomb exploded, filling the room with black smoke and severely injuring Doris. Immediately following the detonation, the teachers started to shove children through two open windows onto the grass outside the school, causing chaos as panicked parents tried to break through police lines. 

Following the explosion, the police report states that David Young opened the door from the connecting bathroom, shot and killed his wife,shot and wounded John Miller, a teacher who was trying to flee, and then closed the door to the small bathroom and killed himself.

Penny, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime because of their refusal to participate.

While 76 people, including the shot teacher, were injured from the explosion, not a single person died other than David and Doris.

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On a subzero night in Alberta, Canada, in 2001, 13-month-old Erika got out of the bed she was sharing with her mother, opened an unlocked back door, and wandered out into the cold, snowy night. At some point along the way, she fell into the snow and lay there for an unspecified amount of time. Erika’s mom didn’t realize her daughter was gone until 3:00 AM, which is when she plummeted into a mother’s worst nightmare. Amazingly, she quickly spotted the toddler lying facedown in the snow.

When the paramedics arrived, they immediately began reviving Erika’s cold, blue body. Problems arose when her limbs were so frozen that a needle could hardly penetrate the skin, and her mouth was so full of ice that breathing tube insertion was nearly impossible. Luckily, the rescuers’ persistence led to their overcoming these trials with an IV in the leg and final success with the tube.

Once in the hospital, Erika was covered with a “Bair hugger” blanket, which heated her body from the outside. Astonishingly, her heart, which had been stopped for two hours, began beating once again.[1] Erika beat all odds and survived one of the deadliest conditions.

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The richest village in China, Huaxi, was originally a poor farming community. Now, all of the citizens of Huaxi are said to be very wealthy, although none of them are allowed to speak to the press, so a lot is still unknown about these people and the village that they live in. 

Huaxi, in east China, has a 72-storey skyscraper, helicopter taxis and rows upon rows of lavish villas

The village's hotel contains a £11K/$13K-per-night presidential suite and an ox statue made of gold

The community, dubbed 'the richest village in China', celebrated its 55th anniversary last month

Chinese state media have used the village to prove the success of the leadership of Communist Party

However, some people have challenged its centralised system, suggesting its prosperity was a hoax

Huaxi, home to only 2000 registered residents, is now a multi-billion dollar conglomerate for steel and shipping markets and the people who live there are said to work seven days a week with no weekends. This means that they do not ever get a day off from work. There is also talk that the people who live there receive free healthcare and schooling. But the catch is, once you leave, you lose all your belongings. 

Huaxi, which claims to run under a strict Socialist system, celebrated its 55th anniversary last month.

The village is administrated by Jiangyin city in Jiangsu Province, a coastal region traditionally known for its abundant agricultural resources and beautiful landscapes.

It is a two-hour drive from China's economic powerhouse Shanghai.

For years, Huaxi has been used by the Chinese authority as a showcase of success to prove how the Communist regime has turned a poor village into a super wealthy region in half a century.

Above the entrance to Huaxi, a huge sign that reads 'the number one village under the sky' is placed on the gate. This is another nickname the country has given to the village.

The village hit the headlines across the country in 2003 when it announced that its yearly economic volume had reached 100 billion yuan (£11.7 billion/$14.4billion), according to Economic Strategies and Practice of Modern China.

One year later, Huaxi announced that the average annual salary of its residents was 122,600 yuan (£14,319/$17,717) - about 40 times the average income of a farmer in China.

To show off its economic might, the village even spent three billion yuan (£350 millon/$430million) building its own skyscraper in 2011.

The 72-storey structure is dubbed the Hanging Village of Huaxi.

Soaring 328 metres (1,076ft) into the sky of Huaxi, the impressive building is four metres taller than the Eiffel Tower (324m) in Paris, nine metres taller than the Chrysler Building (319m) in New York and 18 metres taller than the Shard (309m) in Central London.

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Blood Falls, Antarctica, a beautiful sight to see, is home to a waterfall that is blood -red in color, staining the pure white snow around it. The falls were discovered in 1911 by an Australian geologist, Griffith Taylor, who originally thought that the falls’ distinct color was due to the red algae found in the water. We later learned that the color came to be from the high amounts of iron oxides in the water. 

The high amounts of iron in the water have, however, been the perfect breeding ground for a rare ecosystem of autotrophic bacteria that you won’t find anywhere else, and because there is no oxygen, scientists remain puzzled as to how they are surviving. There is a theory that a subglacial pool had been sealed off millions of years ago, creating a sort of “time capsule,” and that is where these bacteria come from. Even more puzzling is the interaction between the iron and sulfur cycles, which remains a mystery to this day.

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“I think I almost got kidnapped omfg.”

That’s the text message April’s boyfriend, Austin Albertson, received the evening she was killed.

Dog leads couple to April's body

Witness Michael Sadaj testified that he and his wife passed the dog a first time without paying much attention to the fact that it was alone. However, when they passed it on the trail a second time, Sadaj said the dog was "whimpering" next to what appeared to be a pile of trash. When Sadaj got closer, he noticed it was a body. The 911 call he made was played in court.

“She’s off the trail, tucked back in the woods. Her clothes are all taken off,” Sadaj told a 911 operator.

Deputy Macomb County Medical Examiner Mary Pietrangelo testified that although April’s clothes had been ripped from her body, she was not sexually assaulted. April suffered trauma to her head, face and neck from being hit with something blunt with a “very large force” behind it. Pietrangelo said the teen had injuries consistent with having pressure being put on her body.

Retracing April's final steps

Using data from a fitness tracker app, an FBI investigator was able to re-create the final steps April took.

Agent Matthew Zentz, a digital analysis expert, testified that he extracted information from a Sports Tracker app on the Armada teen's cellphone and combined it with location information on Google Earth to create an animation that shows the path April took while walking her dog.

It also shows the path April’s phone took away from the trail through neighborhoods and into a field, presumably after she was killed.

James VanCallis named person of interest, eventually charged

During the course of the investigation into April’s death, authorities executed two search warrants at James VanCallis’ Wales Township home, initially arresting him for an illegal marijuana grow operation.

Police also investigated a specially requested trash pickup from the home that was made just days after April was killed. Investigators spent time at a St. Clair County landfill looking for evidence. The search turned up a pair of shoes that allegedly belonged to VanCallis and had a tread similar to the marks that were found on April’s neck and chest.

Witness Amy Spinell worked with police to help develop a composite sketch of the man she said she saw on the trail the day April was killed. During her testimony, she described the man but said she could not positively identify VanCallis as the same man.

VanCallis found guilty

After closing arguments were made Friday, Feb. 5, 2016, the jury asked to review some exhibits.

On the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, the jury returned with guilty verdicts. VanCallis was found guilty on all counts including murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual assault.

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The Pitcairn Island is especially mysterious, and is home to only 50 people; the island has not seen a newborn baby in several years. They have one general store on the island, which is only open three days a week and diesel powered generators provide the island with power from the hours of 8 am to 1 pm, and again at 5 pm to 10 pm. There was talk of putting in some wind mills, but after realizing that it would have been too expensive, the plan was discarded.

It is only accessible by a longboat from New Zealand, which is 3000 miles away. The island has come to be a popular tourist attraction, and it is how the 50 residents make about 80% of their income. Ten times a year, passengers from a cruise will get the chance to spend their day on the island and they are offered holiday visits that range anywhere from three to ten days. Children under the age of 16, however, require clearance to be able to visit the island.

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John Christie was a lesser known English serial killer and a vicious sadist with an appetite for inflicting pain. He killed at the very least eight people, mostly prostitutes, in the ten-year span between 1943 and 1953, with his faithful wife Ethyl as an accomplice.

Christie offered illegal abortion services to prostitutes, providing them with gas and ultimately strangling and raping them once they became unconscious. Christie would use his garden to dispose of some bodies, but he mostly stowed them under the floorboard of his flat leaving them there to rot.

Ethyl Christie not only allowed her husband to commit these rapes and murders, but she also aided him and provided an alibi when needed. This macabre duo went about their romance of rape and murder for nine straight years when suddenly the Christie house was rocked by an unpredictable curve-ball: John Christie strangled, raped, and killed his wife, Ethyl.

There is a rule if you’re a serial killer: Don’t kill people close to you. That’s how they find you. At this point, Christie had been investigated several times and narrowly escaped, so to turn on his own wife, accomplice, and partner-in-crime was almost unthinkably brave. This was ultimately Christie’s downfall, and he was caught by police and executed on July 15, 1953.

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Located behind a small waterfall in shale creek is a what seems to be a mysterious flame behind the water, known as the Eternal Flame Falls. 

Behind this waterfall is a small crack in the surface that has allowed for a small amount of natural gases to leak out. One day a hiker got the brilliant idea to take a lighter to the gas and start a fire. Occasionally, the waterfall does put out the flame if the wind blows in the right direction, but every time that this happens, a new hiker comes along and relights it. 

The gas is said to originate from the shale 1300 feet below the surface and thanks to tectonic activity, faults in the shale have been created, allowing the gas to seep through. Although it is a very pretty sight to see, it is definitely not a safe or smart thing to be doing.

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Among the rebuild of the High River flood sits a neighbourhood of multi million dollar homes, abandoned and cut off from the rest of the town site.

This past weekend some friends I explored the neighbourhood. The weirdest part of the whole thing was the somewhat maintained lawns, despite no road access (the road into Beachwood is blocked by a berm now to prevent future flooding .

--Furfur 

Floods in parts of southern Alberta in June 2013 caused billions of dollars in damage. In High River, one of the hardest-hit communities, entire neighbourhoods stood under water for weeks. Nearly all of the community's 12,000 residents were forced from their homes. The Alberta government shelled out $92.9 million to the displaced homeowners of 94 properties. Of those, 54 were slated for demolition, 26 auctioned off and the fate of 14 others is still up in the air. An Alberta government spokeswoman said not all of the homes bought in the auction have been moved yet, but Beachwood's fate is clear. "Eventually whatever can't be sold or salvaged would be demolished," said Jessica Lucenko with Alberta Infrastructure.

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Award-winning photographer Stephen Mallon captured these incredible pictures over three years as he documented the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s recycling program retire the remains of obsolete New York subway cars into the Atlantic ocean. Over the past decade, the program has dropped over 2,500 subway carriages into the ocean, helping to rebuild underwater reefs and homes for marine life along the eastern seabed, while also solving the problem of disposal.

It all sounds very humanitarian and yet the images of the carriages being violently tossed into the ocean sits rather uneasy with me.

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Canadian artist Heather Benning has a fascination with the derelict and the abandoned. But when she found a crumbling old farmhouse in the rural setting of Saskatchewan, Canada, Heather decided not to walk away with just the memories of this sad old place, but to use her artistic imagination and bring it back to life.

Oozing nostalgia, Heather was particularly drawn to the old farmhouse because it reminded her of a farmhouse she had known well near her childhood home.

“We used to have an abandoned farm on my father’s land where I grew up, and I used to play there a lot when I was younger,” she told CBC. “I’d play inside the house and set it up and stage it and things like that.”

At the back of the house, Heather removed the walls to mimic a dollhouse style and replaced them with Plexiglass. She fully restored and decorated the five roomed house with bright candy colors and kitschy sixties furniture, paying tribute to the time when the house was last lived in (it was abandoned in the 1960s).

“I wanted to show the passage of time … I was able to show what it looked like before it was left, but then what it looks like now, you know, 35 years later,” said Benning. “I chose to leave the porch on there, which is rotted out, and [leave] everything to look quite rustic on the outside.”

If you’re ever in the area, the house is located off Highway 2 near Sinclair, Man. The dollhouse will remain there until it is deemed unsafe.

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On November 23, 1977, six-year-old Beth Lynn Barr left her school in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, to walk home and spend Thanksgiving with her family. She never arrived, and a witness reported seeing Beth enter a blue sedan driven by an unidentified man. Earlier that day, a woman was approached at a bus stop by a suspicious man in a blue sedan, and she remembered the car’s license number.

The vehicle was found at a nearby rental agency, but records showed that it was not signed out that day. It would not be until March 1979 that Beth’s skeletal remains were discovered in a makeshift grave in a wooded area near Monroeville. She had been stabbed several times in the chest. It’s possible that Beth’s killer stole the sedan to abduct her and returned it to the rental agency before anyone noticed. The perpetrator has never been identified.

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In May 2015, the body of two-year-old Laynee Wallace was found at the bottom of a well in western Kentucky. Anthony Barbour, age 25, the boyfriend of the child’s mother, Kelsey Wallace, was arrested. He was living with them both when Laynee’s body was discovered.

According to Barbour, Kelsey, an abusive mother, lost her temper and accidentally killed Laynee after Laynee had hurt her twin sister, Kynlee. Because Kelsey and Barbour were high on meth, Barbour didn’t want to call the police, so he helped Kelsey cover up the crime by bagging Laynee’s body and putting it into the trunk of his car, fetching a safe from an abandoned house, transferring Laynee’s corpse from the trunk into the safe, and lowering the safe with Laynee’s body inside it into the well. On the way to the well, he threw Laynee’s shirt and diaper from the car. Barbour said he changed his mind later and turned himself in to police.

According to his defense attorney, Ken Garrett, Barbou, didn’t consign the corpse of Laynee Wallace to the bottom of a well to hide it, but to allow the body “to rest” after Kelsey Wallace had killed her daughter. The jury didn’t believe Garrett’s account of his client’s actions, finding Barbour guilty of reckless homicide, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to five years for each felony, the sentences to run concurrently. Although John Gardner, the prosecuting attorney, believed Barbour was also guilty of rape, sodomy, or sexual abuse, he couldn’t prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt.