The Solway Firth Spaceman

Very often, photographs of the paranormal are fussy and blurry, which makes it easy for skeptics to attack its authenticity. But, there exist a handful of clear and distinct paranormal photographs that the skeptics have had a harder time with. One of those photographs was taken in 1964 on a hill in the northern parts of England.

It was on May 24, 1964 when firefighter Jim Templeton and his wife decided to take some photographs of their daughters in Burgh Marsh, near Burgh by Sands, Cambria, with Jim's Pentacon camera. Jim took a photograph of his five year old daughter Elizabeth. The Templeton's were the only people on the marsh throughout the day. Nothing seemed to out of the ordinary, except they the animal behaved strangely. After the photograph of Elizabeth was taken, the family headed home.

Image right: The photograph in question. Still a mystery.

One week later, Templeton picked up his photographs at the local photochemistry. The person at behind the desk said it was “a pity that someone in a spacesuit had destroyed the best picture of Elizabeth by standing behind her.” Jim thought it was a joke. He was absolutely sure that they were the only the marshes that day. But sure enough, someone was standing behind his daughter in what looked to be a spacesuit. Templeton, confused and angry, took the photograph to the police.

THE POLICE: “IT WAS JUST A PERSON”
Also the police was surprised by what Templeton shows them. To them, it was without a doubt that someone was behind Jim's daughter, despite, whatever it now was; it looked to be floating rather than standing. The police sent the photograph away to Kodak, the manufacturer of the film. Either could Kodak identify the anomaly. The only they could say was that the photograph was genuine and had not been manipulated.

The police had started to investigate the case, and after a few weeks, they were able to conclude that the anomaly in the photograph was just human. Also, one of the investigators tried to make Templeton confess that it was his wife that had, by mistake, stepped behind Elizabeth at the time for the photograph. But why would the wife were a spacesuit and how did she make look that she was floating?

MYSTERIOUS VISITORS AND A LINK TO AUSTRALIA
The case gets even stranger. A few weeks after the incident, Jim was visited by two mysterious visitors. The two men arrived in a black car and wore dark suites, but except that, they looked normal. Their behavior was also strange; they only referred to one another by numbers and asked the most unusual questions as they drove Jim out to the marshes. The men tried to make Jim admit that he had just photographed an ordinary man walking by. Jim behaved polite, but rejected their theory. At this point, the men became angry and drove away, leaving Jim for a five mile walk home.

But the story does not end there. After some time, it becomes known that similar phenomena had occurred when a Blue Streak space rocket was due to be launched from Woomera in Australia. The countdown was postponed when two automatic survey cameras had independently spotted two large figures in the firing area during the countdown phase. But how is a missile launch in Australia related to Jim's photograph? It turns out the photograph was not taken far away from the factory were missile was constructed.

This is how far we can go when it comes to this photograph. Despite years of investigation and leads from the other side of the world, we're left with a photograph of a little girl and a person that one has been able to identify.

Paranormal Case #3 - Mothman

Background/description:
In early November, 1966 various reports became to come in of a huge bird-like creature with red-glowing eyes around the area of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The sightings were focused around an area the locals call “TNT”, because it had been used as an explosives depot during the Second World War and there were many abandoned chemical and industrial plants in the vicinity. Sightings were made throughout the year and not before long they became more and more bizarre; now also reports of UFOs and “Men in Black” came in to the local police station. Soon the sightings begun to die out and the creature they called “Mothman” were not seen again.

Evidence for:
There are several evidences that support that something strange lurked around Point Pleasant. Many reports, actually topping around 100, from very credible persons were handed in to police, who actually took it seriously and investigated Mothman, but they didn’t find anything.

Evidence against:
There is not in any way any physical evidence from Mothman supporting its existence. There are several theories what the witnesses actually saw. Probably what they was just an big owl, maybe an barn or snowy owl. Also skeptics suggest that the Mothman's glowing eyes are actually red-eye caused from the reflection of light, from flashlights, or other light sources that witnesses may have had with them.

Conclusion:
This story sounds at first like the creation of an overworked comic book writer, but according to the well over 100 reportedly saw this creature it was real. It’s hard to dismiss everyone’s sigthing, but it’s likely the creature they saw was just an oversized owl and the result of human paranoia.

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The story of the man who shot an alien

One harsh November evening in 1961, Paul Miller and three buddies were on the way home after a hunting trip close to Minot, North Dakota. Suddenly, something they described as a “glowing silo” landed on a nearby field.

They first believed that it was an airplane that had crash landed, but they were forced to change their minds when the object suddenly disappeared. But when the four decided to drive away, the object reappeared and two humanoids stepped out of the craft.

Miller, who was struck by panic, shot one of the beings, apparently injuring it. The second being fled. On the way home, Miller and his team had a “blackout” and lost track of three hours. They then decided not to tell the story to anyone.

The next day when Miller arrived to his office (at the Air Force), he was visited by three men wearing black suits. They said that they were from the government and they began asking questions about his encounter and Miller later recalled “that it seemed that they knew everything about me, and they probably already knew my answers”.

Instead it seemed that they were more interested in what clothes Miller had worn at the time of the encounter and the men followed Miller home to take a look at them. The men made such a threatening impression on Miller that he didn't dare to tell his story in years.