The painter who let herself be possessed by ghosts
Looking for artistic inspiration? Why not follow the lead of 19th century spiritualist artist Georgiana Houghton? Rather than draw anything of her own volition, Ms. Houghton allowed herself to become possessed by ghosts and draw their netherwordly visions.
John Ptak has acquired one Houghton's gallery catalogues from an 1871 art show in London. In her annotations, Houghton explains that her inspiration was simple. She would allow herself to become possessed by friendly spirits and draw what they told her. Explains Ptak:
She writes in the very first paragraph of her catalog's introduction, "the execution of the Drawings my hand has been entirely guided by Spirits, no idea being formed in my own mind as to what was going to be produced..." She explains that the spirits were definitely those of dead people, and after having heard of such possibilities of communication as early as 1859 set out to "obtain mediumship" by holding hands with her mother at a small table for some months on end waiting for contact—which of course she says happened. Sundays worked best, "as we should then be less disturbed by evil influences" [...]
It seemed that Miss Houghton was inspired by the spirit drawings of a Miss Wilkinson—it was then that she sought the artistic guidance of a dead artistic sister though without success, and then from a dead brother. It was the brother who brought her into contact with dead Henry Lenny ("a deaf and dumb artist") who then guided her hands at first with the planchette, then with a pencil, and finally to watercolors.
After ten years of her own spirit drawings, Miss Houghton produced for herself a four-month show at the New British Gallery on Old Bond Street, exhibiting 155 of her works, all exhibited in rented frames for the occasion. Her reviews seem to have been very-light and mixed at best, and for all of her effort and trouble, she sold only one painting. - http://io9.com/#!5781399
Georgiana Houghton - collection
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Close Encounter in New Mexico
MUFON CMS - New Mexico - 12/9/95: My wife and two children left Houston for Denver, Colorado to spend Christmas with my relatives. After driving all day we bought fuel in Roswell, New Mexico before our final driving segment that day as we had hotel reservations in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I consulted a map in an effort to lesson the trip by a few miles by deciding to take New Mexico state highway 20 instead of proceeding north on highway 285 to Vaughn, New Mexico. Within about 7 minutes of turning on to state highway 20 I noticed a very large bright light in my rear view mirror. I had cleaned my windows at the gas stop in Roswell so rear visibility was good. I thought nothing of it as I thought it was a car with one light out and the other working light on high beam. I thought it could also be a motorcycle but ruled that out as it was too cold so it seemed unlikely. It was at first about 3/4 of a mile behind me and I paid little to no attention to it until I looked in my rear view mirror again and it was about 300 feet behind me. The intense white light was slightly above road level and appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a standard car headlight but much brighter. I then looked at my right side view mirror and saw a round amber colored light approximately 40 to 50 feet off the highway and it seemed to be connected to the main light object. The amber light appeared to have a chris/cross or"tic tac toe" type design in the round shaped light. I asked my wife to turn around and help identify what kind of car or vehicle was behind us but this request scared her as she could tell I was concerned about it. At this time a car was appraching in front of us about one to one and a half miles ahead. I was concerned about this because the white light appeared to be in the oncoming lane as well as our own lane. The light was also angled slightly up at an angle. As I waited for the approaching car to pass us I looked in my left side view mirror and saw the object drift to my left and up at the same time. This frightened me a great deal as I then knew it was not a car but in fact was something that was flying. After the car passed the object was gone. About 4 or 5 minutes later it appeared again about 175 to 200 feet behind our Ford Arrowstar van and my wife was very afraid. I asked her to open the passenger side widow and take a picture with a small camera we had with us of whatever it was but she refused. She touched my hand and said I felt cold and clammy and sweaty. I was concerned for all of us. My 11 year old son was sleeping in the back of the van and was not feeling well all day and our 7 year old daughter was sleeping as well. As we observed the light behind us for another 5 or 6 minutes it stayed where it was at the same speed that I was going. State highway 20 is quite narrow and has no room to pull over even if I wanted to and I had no intention of doing so. I actually tried to outrun it by increasing my speed to 75 to 80 miles per hour but it stayed right with me. I actually repeated to myself over and over again "we do not want contact-we do not want contact" if they were able to detect my urgent plea through telepathy to leave us alone. In the distance another car approached and as it closed to within a mile the object rose again to my left and as it did I observed 3 smaller white lights on what would be considered the side of the object. As it rose the lights all turned off like when you turn the light off on a swimming pool. Sort of a slow dim before they went off completely. The approaching car passed and as it did I noticed it braking in my rear view mirror. It did not stop but it braked and kept going. At this point I was concerned and afraid as I believed we may be seeing something that was not from this world. I eliminated the possibility of it being a helicopter as we would have heard the motor or rotors as it was so close. We did not see it anymore after that and we proceeded on to our destination in Santa Rosa after a brief stop in Fort Sumner for directions to highway 84. We will never forget this incident and thought MUFON would find it interesting and should know about it. Thanks
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Japan tsunami survivor found 10 miles out at sea
guardian - A 60-year-old man has been found on the roof of his floating house nearly 10 miles out at sea, two days after the tsunami that devastated the north-east coast of Japan. Hiromitsu Shinkawa must have resigned himself to his fate when he was swept away by the retreating tsunami that roared ashore in his home town of Minami Soma in Fukushima prefecture.
As the wave approached, Shinkawa took the fateful decision to return home to collect belongings. Minutes later he was out at sea clinging to a piece of the roof from his own home. Incredibly, he was spotted by a maritime self-defence force destroyer taking part in the rescue effort as he clung to the wreckage with one hand and waved a self-made red flag with the other. He had been at sea for two days.
Reports said that on being handed a drink aboard the rescue boat, Shinkawa gulped it down and immediately burst into tears. His wife, with whom he had returned home as the tsunami approached, is still missing. He was quoted as saying: "No helicopters or boats that came nearby noticed me. I thought that day was going to be the last day of my life."
Officials said Shinkawa was in good condition after being taken to hospital by helicopter. "I ran away after I heard a tsunami was coming," he said. "But I turned back to fetch something from home and was swept away. I was rescued while hanging on to the roof of my house." The self-defence forces said the good weather and calm waters had allowed Shinkawa to stay alive during his 48-hour drift.
Click for video
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Mayor defends participants in Bulgarian dog spinning ritual
austriantimes - Village elders are in a spin after they were subjected to a hate campaign demanding they stop the annual dog spin aimed to drive away evil spirits before the spring arrives.
The bizarre ritual involves local hounds being tied to a rope stretched over a river which is then wound up tight and released causing animals to spin down into the water. The terrified pooches reached such high speeds that by the time the land in the river they are unable to swim and many drown.
But after a video of the event was posted on the Internet locals say they have become the target of an international hate campaign centred on Facebook .
The dog spin event is the culmination of a four day celebration in the village of Brodilovo, in the south-eastern Bulgarian region of Strandzha near the border with Turkey.
It was held to mark 133 years of independence from the Ottoman empire.
A widespread wave of indignation and a "cyber war" erupted both on Facebook and the Bulgarian video-sharing website vbox7 after videos of dogs being subjected to the ritual were posted.
In the video you can see how the dogs are "hanged" with a rope tied across the chest and then pulled over the river. The rope is then twisted repeatedly and the dogs would spin madly on their way down to the water. The spinning leaves the dogs disoriented, and sometimes they would drown in the process.
Brodilovo mayor Petko Arnaoudov said he had banned the ritual in 2006, but he could not stop rogue elements in the village from still carrying it out believing that the failure last year to hold the event was to blame for a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak which struck in the area for the first time in 12 years.
"You cannot stop a traditional custom with a simple order," Arnaoudov said.
"I gave this order only because animal rights organizations caused a fuss back then, but I am backing the villagers now. It's an old tradition, and we have to preserve our traditions.
"Almost every year, since I was a child in 1950s, I am present at the ritual. I am 61-old now."
Local historians and ethnologists say that the ritual dates back to 10 century BC.
Yavor Gechev, coordinator of local animal rights protection organization 'Four Paws', said, 'It's a tradition originated in a times of ignorance. In 16 and 17 century fights between bears and dogs were very popular in London, but now they do not exist. So, the people who say that the ritual is an ancient one, and is part of our cultural inheritance are talking nonsense."
Bulgaria's PM Boiko Borisov condemned the ritual, and in a talk with country's prosecutor-in-chief Boris Velchev expressed his hope that the guilty ones are going to be prosecuted in accordance with the Law for Animal Rights Protection. Velchev has ordered an investigation.
Warning! Very disturbing video - Click for video
